They're Just Missing In Action
by Paragon of Awesomeness
Summary: As each member of Noble Team meets their fate on Reach, they all eventually end up in the Mass Effect universe where they join forces with Shepard and his squad to stop the Collectors, and protect humanity - at any cost. Paragon male Shep, male Noble Six
1. Chapter 1

**Hey guys, first fanfic so I'd really like to know what you guys think.**

**My motivation for this story was some of the great Mass Effect/Halo crossovers involving the bad-asses of Noble team, but none of them involved **_**all**_** the members of Noble team. I wanted a good fanfiction in which this Spartan squad gets a heart-warming reunion (or Emile's equivalent) in a way that still sticks to both Reach's and Mass Effect's stories. Now anyway, my Six is a male, and I'll do everything I can to just use his number. As for my Shepard, he's an all out paragon war hero with a spacer background who romances Ashley and stays faithful to her (and his first name is John). But don't worry; I'm still planning to fit in plenty of love.**

**The story starts out with Jorge's Noble sacrifice (sorry for the lame pun), and how he ends up in the Mass Effect universe. The story will routinely jump back to what's left of Noble on Reach to explain how they do the same.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own any of the shit I'm writing about... blah blah blah... you know the drill**

**Alright, so here goes nothing!**

**Chapter 1: Tell Them To Make It Count**

"At current velocity, 53 seconds till impact._"_

"Yeah yeah yeah" Jorge sighed in exasperation as he removed his helmet and once again addressed his newest squad-mate. "Bad news is: timer's fried, and so I have to fire this bomb _manually._"

"That's a one-way trip," Six argued vainly as he realized what Jorge was telling him.

Jorge responded dismissively "We all make it sooner or later," Six could see it in the Spartan's eyes: He wasn't afraid to die.

"Better get going Six, they're gonna' need you down there... Listen," he told Noble's newest member as he tore off his dog tags "Reach has been good to me; time to return the favour," And as his fellow Spartan grasped his dog tags, Jorge forced him to look him in the eye as he told Six with more determination in his voice than Six could have ever imagined possible: "don't deny me this."

Picking Six up, the Spartan II walked over the Corvette's hanger's barriers. But just before he threw his comrade back onto the planet below, he gave him a parting message.

"_Tell them to_ _make it count._"

Saying goodbye to his friend, Jorge reattached his helmet and turned back towards the repurposed slipspace drive that served as a bomb. He was just about to press the 'detonate' button when he got a weird feeling in the back of his skull: a sort of 'sixth sense'. Jorge had gotten this feeling before in situations that had seemed hopeless at the time, and following it had always gotten him out alive. Jorge had quickly learned to trust this 'sixth sense', and to never, under any circumstances, ever question it.

This 'feeling' was telling him to pick up the slipspace drive, and bring it over to the Corvette's bridge, and that's exactly what Jorge did. By the time he got there, the Corvette was inside the Covenant Super-Carrier. The 'feeling' Jorge had then compelled him to have to Corvette make a slipspace jump at the same time he detonated the improvised bomb. It was ludicrous, and every other instinct Jorge had was screaming at him to just blow the bomb and accept his fate. Not listening to said instincts, Jorge programmed the Corvette for the jump, and then he immediately hit the detonator. The instant he did so, Jorge activated his armour lock and diverted all non-essential power in his armour to sustain it as long as possible.

Then all Jorge saw was fire.

"So why are you asking _me_ to go investigate this 'ghost ship' that supposedly just appeared out of nowhere?" Commander Shepard demanded as he stared at the Illusive Man's projection in the CIC of the _Normady SR-2_.

"Shepard," The head of Cerberus explained, "the design of this ship doesn't match those of any known species; not even the geth, the Collectors, or the Reapers. My men's scanners just picked it up less than an hour ago, and I have absolutely no idea what might be on that thing. You're the closest reliable resource to it I have, and you've got the best chance of going in, and making it out safely."

Shepard grumbled "Alright, I'll take a look, but this is my 'thank you' to Cerberus for bringing me back. After this, you're going to have to make do with your _pets_."

"Thank you Shepard." The leader of Cerberus smiled in satisfaction, "Once you've cleared it of any and all hostiles I'll send salvage teams to find out what they can. Stay safe, and good luck on your mission."

Jorge could scarcely believe it – for a while he hadn't – but he was _alive_. Unfortunately though, Jorge was about to found out how shallow a victory that acctually was.

"Dot, what the hell happened? And where are we? I can't see Reach, and these star clusters I'm seeing don't match any I've ever seen before."

"Scans of the ship indicate that the slipspace bomb you activated has successfully destroyed the Covenant Super Carrier. However it appears that the blast sent us through slipspace at an unknown vector and velocity. The system we are currently in does not correspond with any UNSC star-charts. I'm afraid we are currently in uncharted territory, Noble Five." Dot replied in her ever-calm monotonic voice.

"Wonderful." Jorge spat. He'd successfully completed his mission, but now he was stranded out in the middle of uncharted space – sentenced to a slow, and likely painful death.

Aboard the _Normandy SR-2_, Commander Shepard was at the cockpit with Joker wearing full armour. The unidentified ship the Illusive Man had told them about was coming into view, and all three of his squad mates – Jacob, Miranda, and Kasumi (he'd dropped by the Citadel to pick up Kasumi and meet with the Council since the Citadel had been only one relay-jump away from the cluster this strange ship was located) – were getting ready in the armoury.

Once they'd all geared up they went down to the shuttle so they could board the ship without too much risk to the_ Normandy_. "Alright, you all know the drill," Shepard told them all during the brief shuttle ride while everyone put on breather masks. "Scan everything carefully; salvage what we can; and eliminate anything we encounter that's hostile. Just remember, we're going up against an unknown, so be on your guard"

"Noble Five," Dot announced; interrupting Jorge's train of thought. "I am detecting a vessel of an unknown signature on an interception course for this ship"

Curious, Jorge walked up to the Corvette's windows wondering what he would see. Sure enough, a ship that didn't match the designs of UNSC, Covenant, or even insurrectionists was on its way towards the Corvette. The ship then slowed down, and opened a hatch from its underside to release a smaller ship, which flew the rest of the way towards the Corvette. As the small boarding craft landed at a site less than a hundred metres from where Jorge was, he cautiously backed into the shadows while keeping the shuttle in his sight. Though he may have practically been the son of Goliath in his armour, he could be somewhat stealthy when the situation demanded it. He immediately became suspicious when a hooded humanoid figure exited the shuttle with what he could tell was clearly a weapon in its hand. Three other figures also exited the craft, and when they stepped into the purple light of the Corvette's destroyed plasma cores, Jorge suddenly felt like several thousand pounds had been lifted off his shoulders: the figures before him were _humans_.

Shepard let Kasumi exit the shuttle first; she was the best when it came to stealth, and would likely notice anything that seemed like a threat. Once she nodded in assurance that it was all clear, the rest of them followed suit. They took a moment to look around them, gaping at the strange technology of the ship. Their thoughts were shortly interrupted by a loud voice with a Hungarian accent announcing "I don't know who you people are, but you're a sight for sore eyes."

They all turned in the direction the voice came from, only to gasp as they came face to face with what was practically a seven foot tall human shaped heavy mech.

"Who – or _what_ – are you, and how did you get here?" Shepard demanded, cautiously keeping his Mattock raised.

"Spartan-052, Chief Warrant Officer of the UNSC. Name's Jorge, sir," the stranger responded casually, despite the guns pointed at him.

To say that Shepard's team was confused was an understatement. "UNSC, what is that?" Jacob wondered out loud.

This made Jorge just as confused as they were _'How can these people not know what the UNSC is?'_

But before Jorge could voice his confusion, the armoured man in front of him lowered his rifle and introduced himself. "Commander Shepard, of the Human Systems Alliance Navy, Citadel Spectre."

Both sides were uncertain of what to say next, and then Miranda spoke up. "Shepard, this really isn't the place for questions that I'm not even sure will have answers. I suggest we take 'Jorge' back to the _Normandy_ so we can do a more thorough interroga- sorry _questioning_ there, sir."

"Sounds good, everyone get back onto the shuttle." Turning back to the Spartan, Shepard told him "Jorge, let me assure you that while you are on my ship you will not come to harm so long as you do not threaten me or my crew. Is that acceptable?"

Having a good feeling about the Commander, Jorge responded with a satisfied "Yes sir, lead the way."

**Alright, first chapter's done, I'm hoping for a lot of feedback about what's good and what needs improvement. Now I know that Shepard isn't technically part of the Alliance, but he's **_**way**_** more loyal to the Alliance than he is to Cerberus, and he felt like he had to make an impression on Jorge. Also, both Admiral Hackett and Councilor Anderson trust Shepard, and fully support him.**

**My thanks go out to Colonel-Mustard 1990 for editing this chapter.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey guys, I really appreciate the reviews I've gotten so far, and I'm hoping for more. A few things pointed out by Cryolophosaurus (thanks for pointing out some errors, and/or confusions, but I personally think that in some cases you care a little too much about the details, like with the thing about the armour lock. It's called fanfiction for a reason.) Is that for starters in the game **_**Halo: Reach**_** Dot is actually on Reach with Six. While I'm admitting that this may be a bit of an error in terms to the actual story in Halo Reach, in this facfic, each member of Noble has a **_**copy**_** of Dot installed in their helmet just for convenience. Now before any of you start objecting, remember that in the Halo novels, (I think it was **_**First Strike**_**) they made hundreds, if not**_** thousands**_** of copies of Cortana at one point. Now an excellent question that I'm sure a lot of you have is how some of the Spartans on Noble team are going to make it. After all as pointed out by Gone Rampant: 'Kat gets shot, Carter gets blown up, and Emile and Six get stabbed. How are they gonna make it?' These are all great questions, and will be answered in the next couple chapters... and I'm going to answer one of them right now.**

**Disclaimer: Okay, do I seriously need to do one of these things **_**every time**_** I post a chapter?**

**Chapter 2: I Know We're Losing... I Want To Know If We've Lost**

"Keep 'em, he gave them to you... I'll honour him my own way." Emile vowed holding up his kukri knife as Six clenched Jorge's dog tags.

"Jorge always said, he would never leave Reach." Jun murmured as he mourned the lost Spartan.

Giving a sad chuckle, Emile grinned "The big man _was_ sentimental."

Carter – thinking that Emile was disrespecting Jorge – immediately snapped "He gave his _life _thinking he'd just saved the planet, we should all be so lucky."

Thinking back to their current situation Jun asked his superior "Sir, is it true about Gauntlet, Red, and Echo teams being assigned to civilian evac ops?"

Knowing exactly who had told him that, Carter turned to Kat muttering dangerously "Those are senior level communiqués."

"I hear what I hear." Kat retorted. "Point is: why put _Spartans_ on defensive deployments?"

Not responding Carter sighed "I need that link to SATCOM Kat."

"Chasing it," She grumbled "but this console's got more shrapnel in it than transceivers... you didn't answer my question."

"You want to know if we're losing?" he demanded exasperatedly.

"I _know_ we're losing... I want to know if we've _lost_." Her thoughts were then interrupted by a beeping sound. "Colonel Holland! Hailing us... what's he doing on an _open channel_?"

Curious as to what could be so important to the Colonel for him to risk himself like this, Carter ordered Kat to let them hear the message. _*- in the southwest quadrant of the city, over? Sierra-two-five-nine, if you are receiving I am authorizing override of radio security protocols to link with this channel.*_

"How long do we have a secure link?" Carter cautiously asked Kat.

"I can't guarantee 'secure' anymore." Kat admitted.

"Could the Covenant trace it to us?"

"I could."

_*Noble leader, this is a priority one hail. If you are receiving acknowledge immediately.*_

Handing the radio to her superior, Noble Two warned him "Keep it brief."

Holding the radio close, Noble One said "Carter here, yes sir..."

While the Commander and the Colonel talked, Jun announced "We've got movement: multiple Covenant vehicles vacating the area. And they're in a hurry."

"How often do you see Covenant retreat for no reason?" Emile wondered, hate in his voice as he spoke of the genocidal invaders.

Before anyone could respond to that, Kat reported "Radiation flare, _big_! Forty million roentgens"

Losing Holland's radio signal, Carter asked Kat what the hell was happening, who explained how atomic excitement had scrambled the signal, and that now there were now _ninety_ million roentgens. When asked what the source was, Noble's second in command said that it was airborne, and that it was close.

"How close?" Carter demanded, now worried. Less than a second later an explosion knocked all five Spartans off their feet.

"_THAT CLOSE_!" Kat screamed, the Spartan squad ran over to the elevators, with Carter, Jun, and Emile in one, and Kat and Six in the second. "Our best option is a fallout bunker on sub-level two, ninety-six kilometres northeast. We get orders from Holland sir?"

Noble One immediately answered calmly "We're being redeployed to Sword base."

The rest of the squad was anything but calm as Jun objected "_Sword_? Covenant own it now!"

Being a soldier to the core, Carter informed Noble team of how the Colonel needed them for a torch-and-burn op to prevent Dr. Halsey's excavation data from falling into enemy hands. Kat quickly pointed out the Covenant could have already taken all the information they needed.

"Maybe," Noble's leader admitted "but according to Holland the Covenant are still hunting for something."

Confused and annoyed, Noble Two wondered "Where the hell does the Colonel get off calling a _demolition_ a priority one-" but before she could finish her question, Kat felt something strike the back of her helmet, and she fell to the ground like a rag doll. Blinking in confusion, Kat looked at where her HUD was supposed to be. After couple of seconds, she realized that her armour had lost all power. Even for a Spartan, trying to move inside MJOLNIR armour with no power was like trying to lift a mountain. As Six rolled her over so he could grab her pistol, Kat saw a phantom overhead and realized that she'd just been shot by a sniper with a Covenant armour piercing needle, and that it had destroyed her helmet's wireless central programming chip. That chip was basically the MJOLNIR armour's equivalent of a brain stem, and with it destroyed, every system in her armour was completely uncoordinated and powerless.

With the rest of Noble providing cover fire, Six dragged Kat's immobile body into the elevator.

Kat felt pathetic.

She was a _Spartan_; a beacon of hope for humanity; a symbol of everything the Covenant feared. And she couldn't even talk since her helmet's external speakers weren't working.

"Kat, can you hear me? Kat, are you okay? _Damn it Kat! ANSWER ME!_" Carter screamed in desperation as he looked at Kat's limp form.

"Sir," Jun interrupted, sorrow in his voice. "I'm not picking up anything from Kat's vital systems... I'm sorry Carter, she's gone."

Kat then realized that the rest of the squad didn't even know about the chip. '_Of course they didn't_' Kat was the squad's tech. The other Nobles had been happy to simply figure out all the MJOLNIR armour's programs. Kat had been the only one of them to go over every single detail as to how the suit worked and what it was made up of. Even if they did know that the chip existed, the armour piercing round should have gone straight through Kat's entire helmet – or at least splattered her brain against her visor. The only reason it hadn't was because of her suit's shields, and that the sniper who'd shot her had been sloppy cleaning his rifle.

Thinking that Noble Two was dead, Noble's leader tore off his helmet and slumped against the wall, with an expression of complete and utter failure on his face – an expression that Kat would never forget.

* * *

><p>Noble team made a small detour to a large lake that was practically a small ocean several dozen kilometres southwest of Sword base. Carter had held Kat – carrying her – the entire trip. Every chance he'd gotten he'd looked at Kat's visor, and Kat just couldn't ignore the look of inexplicable loss in his eyes. Carter lowered his head until his forehead was touching Kat's helmet. He then whispered "I'm so sorry Kat... I failed you." A single tear escaped his eye.<p>

Kat was shocked beyond reason at this; in all her years serving on Noble team, she had _never_ seen Carter cry – or even get watery eyes for that matter – not even when the original Noble Six had died. She wanted to do nothing else other than scream: 'You've got nothing to be sorry about Carter! You _didn't_ fail me, I'm fine!' But she couldn't, and it broke her heart.

The area was then lit up by a bright blue light, and out of the corner of her eye Kat saw a blue flare being ignited; a flare to mark her 'death'.

Her fellow Spartans then loaded her up onto a weak wooden makeshift raft. They were going to push her out into the lake, and her thousand-pound MJOLNIR armour would quickly sink the raft, and Kat would drown.

* * *

><p>Several minutes later, Kat was sinking like a rock, and it was going to take even longer for her to die because even with no power, her suit's oxygen delivery system was automatic. As she descended thousands of metres towards the bottom, her Spartan-enhanced eyes began to notice some kind of structure in the bottom of the lake. As she sank deeper, Kat realized that she was looking at a Forerunner relic, and if the faint blue glow was anything to go by, it was <em>active<em>. For several seconds Kat wondered how no one on the planet had found this place, until she remembered that Reach had always been the UNSC's military core; and as a result the people here were a lot more focused on making sure the UNSC stayed strong rather than running around with cameras recording everything.

This was the last thought her calculating mind had before she fell into the portal of the aquatic Forerunner relic.

* * *

><p>"Let me see if I've got all this straight." Shepard said, his mind reeling from what Jorge had told him. "You're a super-soldier from another galaxy, where humanity has been fighting for its very survival for twenty five years or so against an alliance of alien species known as 'The Covenant'. You were protecting a planet called 'Reach' where you intended to sacrifice yourself to destroy a thirty kilometre Covenant Capitol ship. Then, acting on instinct, you programmed the ship for a… 'slipspace jump' at the same time you detonate a bomb, then you end up here."<p>

"That about sums it up." Jorge responded. "If you don't believe me, feel free to either check my helmet's video logs, or ask Dot whatever questions you might have."

"Wait, Dot, did you have a companion on that ship?" Miranda asked the Spartan.

"Not exactly," Jorge explained, "Dot's a standard issue AI for everyone on Noble team: the squad of Spartans I was serving in. Say hi to everyone Dot."

Everyone in the med bay was surprised to suddenly hear a calm synthesized feminine voice – much like EDI's – coming from Jorge's helmet. "Hello, I am the Auntie Dot AI, a construct of The UNSC. My primary function is to assist the soldiers of Spartan-squad Noble, Noble Five in particular."

Curious about the AI's last statement, Shepard asked "Why's she so close to you Jorge?"

"Each member of Noble team has a copy of Dot, this one's mine."

"You're telling me that an unshackled artificial intelligence is _standard issue_ for your squad? Here, AI's are illegal in order to prevent the possibility of them causing some kind of genocide for organics." Miranda gaped, incredulous as to how casually Jorge talked about it. She thought to herself _'I'll admit that Cerberus didn't exactly follow Council laws when we made EDI. But we only made the one, and even then we took every possible precaution."_

Jorge countered "The UNSC has been using AI's for decades; we wouldn't be able to run most of our equipment nearly as efficiently without them. And they've especially proven to be damn useful in our war against the Covenant. But enough about me, I'm not even in the same _galaxy_ anymore, and frankly, I'd like to find out more about where the fuck I am."

"I can imagine." Shepard sighed. "I think a good start for you would be to get an omni-tool, and start reading the codex on it. It should be able to tell you just about everything you need to know about this galaxy. If you have any other questions about how to use an omni-tool, or about anything else, feel free to ask either me, Miranda, or EDI – the ship's artificial intelligence. I'll also make sure someone gets you a translator."

Nodding in understanding, Jorge took the small device offered to him by the Commander, then walked into the mess hall to read in peace for the next couple of hours, while Shepard, Kasumi, and Jacob returned to the wreck of the Corvette to salvage any useful materials. EDI was very helpful in answering any questions Jorge had about the strange piece of tech, and after several minutes Jorge got the hang of the omni-tool. He read everything he could about the history of the galaxy he was in, and all the different races that made up galactic society. Fortunately for Jorge, he had always been a smart person, and combined with the Spartan augmentations to his brain, his mind was practically a sponge as he continuously absorbed information. By the time he was finished with the codex and the extranet, Jorge knew as much about the galaxy as any other person Shepard had come across. He also discovered that Shepard was a _very_ prominent figure in the galaxy, and that he'd earned quite a number of impressive titles over the past several years; Hero of the Skyllian Blitz; Liberator of Eden Prime; first human Spectre; Saviour of the Citadel. He frowned when he read about Shepard 'dying' but Jorge remembered that even in the UNSC, specialists – particularly those working for ONI – had sometimes faked their death to do covert ops.

Learning all he felt he needed to know for now, Jorge met with the Commander shortly afterwards. He sighed, "Well Shepard, I know a fair bit about where I am now, but I've got absolutely no idea what I'm going to do with myself. I can't even get back to my home – or what's left of it – because I showed up here entirely by accident. Besides, the Corvette's slipspace core is destroyed. And even if I could do the same thing again, there's no telling _where_ I would end up next time."

Thinking carefully, Shepard asked "What do think your options are?"

"I suppose I'll probably enlist with the Alliance." Jorge answered, "It's the closest thing I'll find to the UNSC, and I'll still be protecting humanity. I've got no intentions of selling myself out as a mercenary."

Liking his answer, Shepard smiled "That sounds like a good idea, but I've got something I'd like to tell you." he told the Spartan, "For the past year or so, entire colonies – _human_ colonies – have been getting abducted by a mysterious race called the Collectors."

"I read about them a little on the extranet." Jorge murmured, his voice sounding both interested and suspicious. "They supposedly have technology more advanced than anyone else in the galaxy, and they're so rare most people don't even think they're real. You're telling me they've been abducting human colonies?"

"Yes," Shepard sighed, "I'm currently on a mission to stop the Collectors, but I'm going to need the best this galaxy has to offer. Even if I get it, this mission is considered both impossible and suicidal."

"I'm in."

"What?" Shepard couldn't contain his surprise at the Spartan's acceptance of an offer he hadn't even technically made yet.

"You said you're going to need the best. I _am_ the best; I'm a god damned Spartan. These things are abducting humans, and Spartans were created to protect humanity. I'm _in,_ Shepard."

Smiling warmly, Shepard extended his hand towards the super-soldier, who immediately shook it. "Welcome aboard Jorge."

* * *

><p>Tali was getting frustrated; all they'd been able to find out about why Haestrom's sun had been getting 'old' in less than a couple centuries was that dark energy was reducing the mass of the star's interior. They had no idea about how or why it had happened. She'd quickly ruled out it being some type of WMD for the geth: it was too inefficient to be a real weapon, and this cluster was part of geth space – why would they destroy a system they controlled? To add to her frustration, since her team was trying to avoid attention from the geth, it meant she couldn't send any rare geth materials back to the fleet for her father's project. Tali sighed in exhaustion – it had been a long day, and she'd just spent the last hour checking over her suit – she was ready to turn in for the night.<p>

She walked over to where her team had set up camp, only to be interrupted by Kal' Reegar's voice over her helmet radio. _*Ma'am, our sensors just picked up some really weird readings coming from that prothean relic by the colony's centre. You might want to come over and check it out, I think one of the techs said it might be coming online.*_ Tali remembered that even though her people had come to this system centuries ago to study the system's star, they had decided to colonize the planet when they had found a _very_ unique prothean relic on the planet's surface. The founding structure for the three-hundred year old stone-and-steel buildings on Haestrom had been inspired after studying the relic's unbelievably tough metal alloy.

Quickly deciding that investigating a seemingly random activation from the ancient structure could be important – or at least very interesting – Tali touched her hand to her radio and replied: "Roger that Kal', I'm on my way."

* * *

><p>Tali showed up at the relic site in just a couple of minutes – they'd only set up camp a few hundred metres from it. She arrived to find her scientists and her guards looking at the relic in awe as a blue sphere of light formed at a site where several small columns came together. It grew larger and brighter until it looked as if it was about to explode. Then something happened that no one could have predicted: the armoured body of a <em>human<em> shot out of the sphere, landing right in front of Tali. Then – just as suddenly as it had activated – the relic shut down.

Tali looked at the limp form in front of her in complete shock. '_A human? Why did a human just get transported here by a prothean relic that's been inactive for at _least_ centuries?'_ Her thoughts were interrupted as one of the scientists stepped forward to do a quick scan of the newcomer with his omni-tool, while the quarian marines kept their rifles pointed at it in case it tried anything.

"Miss Zorah, the human's alive. But it seems that the armour she's wearing doesn't have any power – and it looks like this suit requires a lot of it – so she's completely immobile. What are your orders?"

Wanting to know how the human had gotten there, Tali asked the scientist if the human was conscious. After confirming that it was, she told him to remove the human's helmet.

* * *

><p>The last thing Kat remembered was falling into a Forerunner structure at the bottom of a <em>very<em> deep lake, and then all of a sudden she was on dry land surrounded by humanoid creatures completely covered in strange looking suits. These aliens weren't a known Covenant race; what were they? One of the creatures crouched over her and waved a strange holographic device over her head, and after a few seconds spoke in a strange language to what seemed to be a female of the species. After a short conversation transpired between the two, the male grabbed her helmet and removed it.

* * *

><p>Tali told the scientist to back away so she could talk to the woman, who had a bewildered look on her face. She crouched down to look the stranger in the eye and asked "Who are you, and how did you activate that relic?"<p>

The human looked at her as if Tali had suddenly grown a second head and said "Listen alien. Maybe you can't tell, but we're completely different species; so we don't exactly speak the same language. Wait, why am I even talking to you? It's not like you understand me or anything."

Taking a closer look, Tali realized that the woman didn't have a translator for some reason. She quickly grabbed a spare from one of her men, and then made the proper adjustments for the human to the device with her omni-tool. She then grabbed the woman's head – to which she responded by screaming at Tali asking 'what the hell she was trying to do to her' – then put the translator into her right ear. Tali then immediately got up and repeated her question.

Kat was astonished as Tali's strange speech suddenly made perfect sense to her. Then – thinking quickly after noticing the multiple rifles pointed at her – responded, "How about you see if you can restore power to my armour so I can _move_, then I'll gladly answer as many questions as I can."

* * *

><p><strong>Alright, so what to you guys think? Was this an acceptable loophole around Kat's death? <strong>

**Seeing that I like feedback from my audience, one thing I'd appreciate is ideas for; possible directions to take the story; how certain characters will get along with one another; and even potential romances. Please keep in mind the thing I said about Shepard staying faithful to Ashley, and I don't want any 'sex-buddy' romances. I suppose it could possibly **_**start out**_** as that kind of relationship, but eventually it would grow into something more meaningful. Also, please don't just shout out the first idea that comes to mind; I'd like to understand your **_**reasons**_** as to why you think that idea could be interesting, and how it could influence the characters and the story as a whole.**

**I'd like to explain a few things that some the Mass Effect/Halo nerds are probably going to complain about if I don't clear it up. The thing about the central programming ship being in the helmet despite how frequently Spartans remove them; please keep in mind that I said it was **_**wireless**_**. Also, I don't know if Noble team actually dumped Kat's body in a lake, but in this fanfic they do, okay? And about Kat being beneath thousands of metres of water, and not being crushed under the pressure, keep in mind that the Spartan's armour (namely Six's) was able to fall through the atmosphere – which destroys most meteorites – and take little to no damage as we see when Jorge throws Six back down to Reach. Does that necessarily mean it would be able to take that kind of pressure? I don't really know, but in this fanfic, it can. As for the forerunner portal; it's one-way – like the Conduit – and only transports solid objects. If there's anything else I missed that you'd like me to explain, then please say so in the reviews. And if you simply don't like the way I'm crossing over the Mass Effect/Halo universes, no one's forcing you to read this story.**

**Just so you know, we're probably not going to be hearing that much (**_**maybe a little**_**) form Kat and Tali until Shepard goes to Haestrom to recruit them. And I'll probably change the rating of this fanfic to M in the next chapter just to be on the safe side. Hope you guys like this, see you soon.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Hey guys, sorry I haven't been around for a while, but here I am.**

**Volc19: Jun will definitely end up in the Mass Effect universe, but I'm not sure about Dr. Halsey. Remember, she is kind of essential to the story in the Halo novels, but in the end it's up to the fans. Do you guys **_**want**_** Dr. Halsey in this fanfic? If so, what will her role be? And how will she interact with the other characters?**

**HardHatRocker: Unfortunately, I've already got it planned for how Emile is going to get to the Mass Effect universe. But now that you mention it, I think that Emile deserves to have a bit of fun by blowing up a merc base or two.**

**SpartanOmega013: Thank you **_**so much**_** for all the ideas and/or pointers. But do you really think that having Carter shed **_**one**_** tear for his oldest comrade to be over doing it? The thing you said about Spartans having their hormones reduced made me think, but then I remembered that in a Tali/Shepard romance fanfic titled **_**Honeymoon**_** by Miraza (go check it out when you get the chance; it's **_**really**_** good) Mordin sends the two lovers some blue wine that seems to be some sort of multi-species 'Super Viagra' or something. Anyway, I'd just like to think that maybe Mordin can do something about the Spartan's hormone issue. The thing you said about Jorge seemed to be a bulls-eye, and for a while I wondered who might be a good romance option for Jorge since he's quite a bit older than most of the crew, and I don't really want to add any OC's. But then I thought that **_**possibly**_**, Samara might be a good fit for him since they both strongly believe in doing the right thing and protecting the innocent (and before any of you point out the massive age difference, did that stop some of you from trying to seduce Samara herself, or bang Liara – who is over a century old?). As for Emile, your analysis on him seemed to be damn accurate as well. The thing about a friendship – or even a potential romance – with Jack seemed really good too since they've both gone through a lot of shit. Do you just think that **_**eventually**_** Emile could grow to respect some of the other character's (like Grunt for example, they're very alike in a lot of ways). To be honest, I'd never considered a good friendship (or romance) between Miranda and Six. But once you mentioned a few facts about how Miranda is always used by the Illusive Man and Six by ONI, it just seems awesome.**

**It's up to you guys. Should Mordin subscribe the Spartans a little something that makes them horny?**

**Should Jorge get together with Samara, someone else, or no one at all?**

**Should Emile just be friends with Jack, or will it grow into something more?**

**Will Emile come to respect some of the other bad-asses that Shepard recruits?**

**Are Miranda and Six going to be close friends, or will they find peace in each other's arms?**

**And finally, who is Kelly going to give lap dances to?**

**Remember, in the reviews; feel free to suggest possible directions for the story, character relationships, and romances. Just explain **_**why**_** it would be good for this story.**

**Disclaimer: God damn it, these things are really starting to piss me off.**

**Chapter 3: You're On Your Own Noble**

Continuing to fly the pelican despite the wound in his upper right abdomen, Carter froze for a second as he saw a scarab. And according to Dot, it was right in front of where she was detecting the signal coming from Emile and Six's radios. Activating the pelican's radio, Carter painfully grunted "Noble... you got a... situation."

_*Mother...*_ Emile's voice gaped over the radio as Noble Four saw the scarab _*We can get past it sir!*_

"No you can't, not without help." Carter sighed, as an idea many people would call crazy started to form in his mind

_*Commander, you don't have the firepower!*_ Noble Four insisted.

"I've got the mass." Noble's leader calmly responded as he set the pelican on a collision course with the scarab. A part of Carter wanted him to just go down with the ship; at least then he'd be able to see Kat again. Damn it a part of him _needed_ to see Kat again. But he was a soldier before anything else, and he still had a job to do.

_*Solid copy. Hit 'em hard boss.*_ Emile's voice announced in sad understanding – he thought Carter _was_ going down with the ship

Not having time to explain to his Spartans what he was really doing, Carter murmured "You're on your own Noble... Carter out" as he grabbed his helmet, his DMR, and a can of biofoam. Then – a second before the pelican hit the scarab – he jumped out the back of the drop ship just as Emile and Six had half an hour ago.

* * *

><p>It took Carter a while to recover from the fall due to his injuries, but eventually he was able to focus enough to put the tip of the biofoam canister up to the wound in his abdomen. As he applied the healing substance, he immediately got a brief stinging sensation followed by a blessed numbness from the pain. Reattaching his helmet, Carter was about to try to contact his two remaining Spartans until he noticed a flashing light on his HUD signifying that his helmet's radio had been damaged.<p>

Hearing gunfire, Carter walked up to the edge of a cliff, and he used his helmet's optical zoom to see Emile and Six jumping off a mongoose to fight Covenant infantry over by a now-abandoned UNSC outpost. He figured that it had to have a radio somewhere, but it looked like it would be a long walk.

* * *

><p>Emile cursed as the phantom flew too close for him to target it with the Mass Driver Cannon, and got out of the seat to grab his shotgun an instant before the phantom dropped a Zealot a few feet from him. The Zealot swung an energy blade at him, but Emile's Spartan reflexes were legendary as he ducked and shot the ugly bastard with his shotgun – taking down its shields. As the Zealot flinched, Noble Four then drove the butt of this shotgun into the Elite's chest, knocking it over the railings right behind it. Before the Zealot could recover, Emile pumped his shotgun for another blast, put the barrel right into the ugly son of a bitch's mouth, and pulled the trigger.<p>

Watching the Elite's brains splatter the ground around him in satisfaction, Emile pumped the shotgun again and eagerly shouted "_Who's next?_" His answer came in the form of hearing a furious snarl right behind him, and before Emile could turn around he was suddenly lifted into the air.

Wondering why he was floating, Emile looked around him. And then he noticed the blade of a Covenant energy sword sticking through his chest. The sword then retracted, and Emile felt an alien hand grab his neck, then spin him around to look into the sneering face of another Zealot. _'This faggot is sneering at me like this, and he doesn't even have the _balls_ to fight me face-to-face? So much for the Elite's sense of honour – stabbing an enemy in the _back_.' _Emile thought in disgust. If this asshole thought that _Emile_ was going down without a fight; he had another thing coming.

Drawing his kukri knife, Emile screamed in bloodlust "_I'M READY! HOW 'BOUT YOU?_" as he plunged his favourite weapon into the overconfident bastard's neck, and swung them both over the railings with a painful grunt.

The Zealot died from the wound almost instantly with what seemed like a shocked expression on its face. Emile however, had raging levels of adrenaline in his bloodstream. Yet even he couldn't ignore the massive level of pain from the wound in his chest. Then Emile noticed something just a few feet out of arm's reach: a canister of biofoam. Emile had completely forgotten he'd brought one; it must have fallen from his waist harness when he fell over the rail. It was a shame really; the one thing that had a chance of keeping him alive was just beyond his reach. Emile was about to finally give in to the pain when a voice came from within his mind – in the form of _Chief Mendez's_ voice to boot.

'_God damn it Emile, when I was training the Spartan III's, I told you that you were the craziest, dumbest, and most reckless son of a bitch I had ever had the privilege of training. Don't you_ dare_ prove me wrong_ _by just rolling over and dying. What are you – a _Spartan_ or some stupid grunt that signed up for the army while he was drunk?'_ Emile felt his pride stir as Chief Mendez's voice struck more than a few nerves. Emile was barely able to stomach his colossal pain as he slowly got up and crawled over to the canister that would save his life. With trembling fingers, he grabbed the biofoam container, and somehow was able to apply it to the twin holes in his chest.

As the pain began to subside, Emile eventually got to his feet. He then heard more Covenant infantry nearby, and reluctantly realized that he was in no shape to fight just yet. Then he heard gunfire. And based on the multitude of Covenant screams, it didn't take a genius to figure out that Six had come to finish the job.

Emile just hoped that Six would be able to take 'em all on his own.

* * *

><p>As Six finally took down the last Elite – which had been a Field Marshall – he got into the seat of the Mass Driver cannon, and started shooting down phantoms and banshees while he waited for the Covenant Super Carrier to unknowingly expose itself. Finally after blowing up god knows how many drop ships, the Super Carrier was vulnerable. Six pointed the gun at it and stated to charge the cannon. But then he noticed a banshee flying towards him, and it was at too far an angle for him to be able to shoot it down before it finished him off. Besides, making sure the<em> Pillar of Autumn<em> got off Reach safely was more important that saving himself. As the Super Carrier exploded and the banshee opened fire, Six closed his eyes and waited to die until he heard the trademark sound of a Spartan Laser being fired. He opened his eyes to see the banshee explode in a beautiful flash of red and purple fire. He then looked to his left to see something that made him question his sanity: Emile was standing there smugly, with a Spartan Laser draped over his shoulder.

"_Emile?_ How the fuck are you alive? Y-You got stabbed in the _chest_!" Six stammered.

Even with the biofoam, it hurt like hell to laugh. But Emile just couldn't help himself as he imagined the look that Six had underneath his helmet. Emile grinned "You clearly forgot three important facts Six. One: Spartans _never_ die. Two: Biofoam works wonders. And Three: I am a _crazy_ son of a bitch."

Six shook his head and chuckled "I gotta give you three out of three on those Emile." Growing serious he told his squad mate "Come on, let's either find a way off this god forsaken planet, or figure out how to take as many of these Covenant bastards with us as possible."

"Couldn't have said it better myself Six." Emile responded as he gladly reclaimed his beloved shotgun and reloaded it. Glancing at his HUD, Noble Four then noticed something that got his attention. "Hold on, I'm getting a radio call over a UNSC channel. According to Dot it's coming from one of those outposts we fought through to get here."

"Well then what are you waiting for? Let's hear it." Six told him.

_*To any UNSC personnel in the area, this is Noble One. If anyone is out there please respond, over.*_

This time it was Emile's turn to be shocked as he gaped "Sir, is that really you?"

_*It's good to hear your voice Emile.*_ Carter responded with indescribable relief.

"How the _fuck_ are you alive? I saw that pelican _explode_ when it crashed into the scarab."

_*I'll tell you that when we've got a bit of spare time Noble Four. I'm currently at outpost Sigma-five-seven.*_

"Roger that Commander, I've got Six here with me. Stay put, we'll grab a warthog and come to you."

Emile then turned to look at Six who muttered in astonishment "Looks like you were right Emile: Spartans never die."

* * *

><p>Carter looked up from the map Dot was showing on his HUD just in time to see two civilian class warthogs rounding the corner. Each one was stacked with guns, ammunition, medical equipment, the UNSC's latest tech, and rations. It was bittersweet for him to see Four and Six get out of the driver's seat of each vehicle, and start walking towards him. He was glad to have his comrades back, but if they didn't get off of Reach soon they would all die. Six walked up to him and reported "Sir, I've got good news and bad news. Bad news is that right after the <em>Autumn<em> took off; the Covenant destroyed every ship yard within a thousand kilometres. The good news is that we got a shitload of supplies, and that I've got a map telling me that there's a Forerunner relic we can hold out in about half a day's drive from here. The Covenant wouldn't _dream_ of glassing it."

Surprised at the second part of the good news, Carter asked "Just where did you find a _map_ showing the location of _Forerunner artefacts_?"

Six awkwardly responded "Um... well... While we were picking up the package, I _might_ have discreetly copied a _few_ of Dr. Halsey's files." After Carter fixed Six with a hard stare, he sighed and admitted "Okay I copied over eight dozen. Happy?"

The seriousness in Noble One's eyes was instantly replaced by amusement. He grinned and put on his helmet "Come on Spartans, let's get moving. We're going to that relic."

* * *

><p>Shepard and his team didn't know which they should be more disgusted with – the way the <em>Purgatory's<em> guards treated the prisoners, or the prisoners themselves. They'd called it a tie after watching a guard torture a prisoner. And then hearing the man in the next cell casually admit that he'd killed twenty people, then tell them it was small time compared to most of the prisoners.

Knowing that they were here to pick up the worst one of all did little to ease their discomfort.

But Jack sounded like he could pack a hell of a punch, and Shepard needed everything he could get if he wanted to have a shot at taking down the Collectors. They were about to go into outprocessing until they heard Warden Kuril's voice over the prison's speaker system. _*My apologies Shepard; you're more valuable as a prisoner than a customer. Drop your weapons and proceed into this open cell. You will not be harmed.*_

Trying to be diplomatic, Shepard calmly responded "Maybe I can change your mind."

Kuril on the other hand, immediately ordered _*Activate Systems!*_

Shepard's squad barely had time to take out their weapons before Blue Suns stormed into the room and started shooting. While bullets whizzed over his head, Shepard looked over at Jorge and suggested "Jorge, why don't you show these guards why it's a bad idea to piss off a Spartan."

* * *

><p><strong>Aaaaaand... EPIC CLIFF-HANGER!<strong>

**Alright guys, be sure to rate and review, and tell me your personal answer to the questions above. Although I've already got a basic outline, this story is based on what the fans want.**

**Until next time! :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey guys, thanks for all the reviews and support and everything. Now before I actually start the chapter, I'm going to respond to a few of the reviews, and answer a few questions.**

**Same Thing ****and ****Volc19****: As to what you both said about making sure I don't have too many romances, or just randomly jump into relationships, believe me, I understand your concern. A few months ago I read a fanfic, and the author had apparently decided to throw together as many people as he/she possibly could. The romances in that story included; Shepard/Miranda; Jacob/Kasumi; Kenneth/Gabby; Thane/Kelly; Grunt/Jack; Tali/Legion; and several others that I can't remember – and I don't want to. After reading a few shitty chapters of this fanfic, I just couldn't take it anymore. I hit 'back', and thought to myself "What. The fuck. Did I just read?" Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that I'm not going to be pairing up everyone on the **_**Normandy**_**. I'm only going to have a few couples, and even then, I'm going to make it clear why they're together. Also, I'm not going to be focusing solely on romance. Instead I'll simply mention each relationship briefly every chapter or two, and dedicate a section of a chapter to a specific romance once in a while when it's appropriate. This is so I don't get caught up in each couple's love, and instead I can actually focus on the real story here.**

**HardHatRocker****, ****Gone Rampant****, and ****Kaijudospartan****: (Facepalm) I've said this before, but apparently I need to say it again. I **_**am**_** taking ideas on possible directions in which to take the story so long as they stay true to Mass Effect's actual plot. But I **_**don't**_** appreciate it when people just blurt out the first thing that comes to their head without thinking simply because they think it might be fun. If that's the kind of thing you want, either make suggestions to someone else, or go write your own fanfic. Because **_**I**_** am not going to even going to **_**consider**_** your ideas if you don't have an argument as to why they'd actually be constructive for this story.**

**Sheity****: Good to know that you thought my story was one of the few you thought worthy of reviewing. Now a few people have supported the Jorge/Samara romance, whereas you seem to be the only one against it so far. But you're also the only person in this area who actually backed up their argument – thus your opinion counts more. Now that you mention it, I'm having a bit of trouble imagining Jorge or Samara in a relationship myself. For those of you who**_** do**_** want to see these two together, there's still several chapters to go before Shepard even recruits Samara. But if you're going to make an argument, please explain it like ****Sheity**** did. Also, for anyone suggesting new romances, I'm pretty sure that I've established that Carter and Kat are eventually going to realize how they feel about each other, and that Shepard is going to stay faithful to Ashley. Just so you know.**

*** Spoiler Alert... sort of* I'm **_**not**_** going to have Dr. Halsey in this fanfic, because she's still got a roll to play in the Halo universe. Also, while I was playing Halo: Reach, I got the feeling that even thought Halsey might indeed be useful, she always seemed to have her own little plans, and she only shared data when she absolutely had to – and even then she kept it to a bare minimum. Thus you couldn't really trust her. I don't know, she just seems too 'Cerberus' for me. And we all know what good friends **_**they**_** are according to Mass Effect 3. But, if you guys **_**really**_** want her in this fanfic, I might rewrite the chapter to include her. But if you want her in this story, for Christ's sake people; **_**EXPLAIN WHY!**_

**Oh yeah, also, my Shepard has all the abilities of every class (ex. charge, tech armour, singularity, adrenaline rush) because I personally think he's just that much of a badass.**

**Disclaimer: Okay, seriously, I've already established that I don't own Halo or Mass Effect. Besides, how the hell am I going to make money by posting a story **_**on the internet**_**? You know what? Fuck it. I'm not doing these things for this story anymore.**

**Chapter 4: I'll Do What's Necessary**

Nodding with a grin underneath his visor, Jorge hefted his new M-200 heavy machine gun – more commonly known as the Sledgehammer – that Shepard had had manufactured for him in the _Normandy's_ armoury. The gun was bigger than Kasumi, and just as heavy. Coming out of cover, Jorge saw the guards hesitate as he and his new toy came into view. He was pretty sure he heard one of the Blue Suns mutter "Holy _shit_!" as he started firing.

Within seconds, every guard in the room was taking cover. While trying to figure out how to deal with this behemoth, two guards suddenly found themselves gunned down from behind. The last thing either of them heard was a taunting feminine Japanese voice yelling "Ha ha!" as Kasumi deactivated her cloak, surprising the remaining Blue Suns. They trained their weapons on her, but then realized too late that they had forgotten the biggest threat. A second later, they were practically lined up in front of a firing squad as they were all killed by either a Spartan, a Spectre, a former Alliance Corsair, or a Cerberus ice queen.

* * *

><p>"Shep, if you hit that button, every cell in this entire section is going to be unlocked." Kasumi warned.<p>

Miranda – always thinking about the mission – coldly responded "It's the only way to get Jack out of cryo."

Hating himself for what he was about to unleash, Shepard sighed "I'm doing it. Be ready." Then he initiated the release. As the _Purgatory's_ mechanisms unlocked the cryo pod, Shepard got a dread feeling in his gut as he saw three YMIR mechs activate in response. Then the pod opened.

Jacob blinked as though he wasn't sure if what he was seeing was real. Then after confirming that it was, he gaped "_That's_ Jack?"

Jorge raised his eyebrows in surprise and simply murmured "Not what I was expecting."

Shepard couldn't agree with him more. The most obvious and biggest surprise was that Jack was a _woman_, and she was quite a bit smaller than any of them had expected. She wore old combat boots that looked like she'd taken them off of military personnel that she'd probably killed, and rather loose fitting pants. As for the waist up, all she had on was a few leather straps that barely covered her breasts. And tattoos, _lots_ of tattoos.

Jack seemed a little groggy at first from being in cryo for so long, then got a furious expression on her face as she freed herself from the cryo pod. The instant she did so, Jack ran at the YMIR mechs screaming for blood, then destroyed them all with the strongest biotic punch any of them had ever seen.

"I'm scared." Kasumi whispered.

Regaining control of himself, Sheppard ordered "Come on, let's go get Jack."

Jorge pointed out "At least it'll be easy to track her." Then as everyone but Shepard looked at him like he was insane, he gave a small chuckle.

* * *

><p>Shepard's team opened the door to a large room, and in it, several prisoners were attempting to overpower Warden Kuril. Unfortunately for the prisoners though, Kuril was on a higher level, so they couldn't simply swarm him like they had with the other guards. Also, their weapons were either stolen from guards they had managed to kill, or they were improvised, and they had no armour. The Warden on the other hand had state of the art tech armour, and an M-76 light machine gun, AKA, Revenant.<p>

As the Warden shot down the last of the prisoners and began to focus his fire on Shepard, he snarled "Your valuable, Shepard. I could've sold you and lived like a king! But you're too much trouble. At least I can recapture Jack!"

As Shepard took cover, he spat "Not happening! You're a two-bit slave trader, and I don't have time for it!"

The turian objected "I do the hard things civil governments are unwilling to! This is for the good of the galaxy!" as he fired another shot, then used the _Purgatory's_ containment systems to shield himself right before thirty more Blue Suns stormed into the room.

Shepard took a quick look at what they were up against, then ordered "Jorge, Jacob, you two and me will focus on the main group – get their attention. Miranda, you and Kasumi flank them and pick off any stragglers. Once they're all dead we'll take out those shield generators protecting Kuril." With a nod, Kasumi cloaked herself, and Miranda quietly started to sneak away to a less noticeable area, while the rest of them jumped out of cover and ran forward with their guns blazing.

Four Blue Suns soon found themselves with their intestines replaced by bullets, and fell to the ground with a choked scream. The rest were so surprised by the unexpected assault that it took them a full two seconds before they could get to cover, and another guard died in each of those two seconds. Yet the instant they did so, they recomposed themselves and opened fire on the men that had just shot at them. Shepard's team was well disciplined though, and had already taken cover by then. Jorge mounted his Sledgehammer on top of the box he was behind, and then used it like a turret as he mowed down any guards stupid enough to stick their heads out. Jacob cursed as the majority of the Blue suns were out of his shotgun's effective range, but quickly compensated by using his biotics to pull anyone he could reach towards him, right before he blew them apart with so many bullets you couldn't tell the humans from the batarians. And Shepard would routinely use either his own biotics or his omni-tool's combat tech to strip away the defences of their officers, before he took them down with precise headshots from his Mattock.

As the Blue Suns lost their Lieutenants, they became increasingly uncoordinated. The situation quickly became worse for them as they suddenly found themselves being flanked by _another_ biotic, as well as an enemy they couldn't see. In just a few moments, Shepard's elite squad had killed every guard in the room, and then they destroyed the shield generators to reveal a frantic Warden. Kuril opened fire on the Commander – attempting to at least take the Spectre with him – until Shepard shocked him by charging forward with his biotics. As he solidified, Kuril found his Revenant being knocked out of his hands from the charge, and then he landed flat on his ass. Shepard then took on the role of an executioner, as he kept Kuril on the floor by firmly planting a foot on his chest. He then took out his M-5 Phalanx, and put a single bullet through Kuril's brain.

* * *

><p>Jack just kept running. She didn't care what she had to do who or who got in her way, she was getting out of this shithole. Two guards stood in front of her, and the turian shouted "<em>Stop!<em>" Jack simply ran up to them, then she picked up the batarian with her biotics, she used a biotic punch to slam him into the bulletproof window – killing him instantly. She immediately turned around and threw the turian into the wall behind him. And with barely a grunt, he disappeared into the crevice between the floor and the wall.

Jack took a moment to look around to see if there were any ships she could highjack. She then noticed a frigate, but stopped when she saw the black and yellow diamond emblem. "_Cerberus_." She spat. They had found her, and those fuckers were here to take her away again for their sick, twisted, fucked up experiments. She began pacing, throwing punches at the air, she needed to kill something. It looked like she would get to when she noticed a batarian guard trying to sneak up on her, but then he was cut down by a quick shot. Jack instantly spun around to find herself facing five humans, and one of them was _big_.

"_What the hell do you want?_" Jack angrily demanded.

The smaller armoured man who had killed the guard put away his pistol and told her "You're in a bad situation; and I'm going to get you out of here."

Jack sneered "Shit, you sound like a pussy." The man who had spoken narrowed his eyes, but before he could respond she muttered "I'm not going _anywhere_ with you – you're Cerberus."

The man suddenly seemed a little confused as he asked "Why does it matter if I'm with Cerberus?"

Jack grumbled "They've been on my ass for _years_ – any time I get free, they put a _huge_ bounty on me. That's why Warden Kuril figured he'd struck gold when he caught me... it isn't working out too well for him." She finished smugly.

"I'm here to ask for your help." The stranger told her.

Not trusting him, Jack spat "You show up in a Cerberus frigate to take me away somewhere. You think I'm stupid?"

He then pointed out "This ship is going down in flames. We can get you to safety, and we're _asking_ for your help."

The seven foot tall man then spoke up, offering "Shepard, if you want I could knock her out and take her."

"I'd like to see you try." Jack retorted. Truth be told; she wasn't entirely sure she'd be able to take them all on, but she was _not_ going to end up in Cerberus' hands again.

The man apparently named 'Shepard' then strictly told his squad "We're not going to attack her."

"Good move." Jack muttered. Then, as an idea came to her head she stepped closer to the newcomers and told them "Look, you want me to come with you? Make it worth my while."

Shepard assured her "Join my team and I'll do what I can for you."

"Don't make promises you can't keep." Jack warned, Shepard might prove useful to her, but she didn't trust him at all. "I bet your ship's got lots of Cerberus databases. I want to look at those files – see what Cerberus has got on me. You want me on your team? Let me go through those databases." Jack told him with her arms crossed, making her terms clear.

Shepard then promised her "I'll give you full access."

The brunette wearing a Cerberus uniform behind him objected "Shepard you're not authorized to do that!"

"Oooh, it upsets the cheerleader; _even better_." Looking at Shepard again, she warned him "You better be straight up with me." When he nodded, she demanded "So why the hell are we standing here?"

Walking towards where he would be able to get back aboard the _Normandy_, Shepard ordered "Move out."

* * *

><p>"Spartan-226, you cannot go back there. What's left of Reach is a wasteland. I'm <em>ordering<em> you to stand down." The ONI officer told Jun.

Jun looked at him through his visor and angrily retorted "You're forgetting a few things. First: you're ONI, and I'm Army; we're not in the same chain of command. Therefore, you could be the Director of ONI himself, and you _still_ wouldn't be able to give me orders. Second: my orders were to escort Dr. Halsey to CASTLE base, and I've done that. So until I receive new orders from an actual superior, I don't have to do anything." Stepping forward threateningly, he muttered "Third: since I'm not ONI, I actually have a _soul_ you heartless bastard. Now these computers are telling me that my team is still alive on that planet, and Spartans don't leave their brothers behind. Now get out of my way before I realize how badly I want to kill you."

Realizing that the Spartan in front of him was pissed off – specifically at him – the ONI officer finally made a smart decision and left the room. Jun then grabbed the hologram armour ability, and several guns. Which included a Spartan Laser, a DMR, a pistol, and of course, his trusty SRS99 sniper rifle. He then boarded the small UNSC stealth ship that he had flown to CASTLE, and departed for Reach. He then programmed the ship for a slipspace jump. But while it was starting, Noble Three noticed an 'error' light flashing. He instantly checked all the calculations he had made for the jump, but they were all right. Then he remembered that the UNSC or even the Covenant barely understood slipspace technology, and as a result slipspace cores sometimes malfunctioned in a way they couldn't detect. Jun frantically tried to stop the jump, but it had already been initiated.

His last words before the ship went through the jump were "Son of a bitch."

* * *

><p>Jun was lucky, in a way. Most malfunctioned slipspace jumps resulted in the ship simply not existing anymore, or so he'd heard. Right in front of him was some sort of station attached to a large asteroid. Jun thought to himself <em>'Doesn't seem like Covenant design, and it's definitely not UNSC. Maybe it belongs to Insurrectionists.'<em> This was all he had time to think of before his ship crash landed into the long spire in the underside of the station. Fortunately, Jun's armour protected him from any damage, and he eventually managed to crawl out of the wreck to find himself facing a heavily armed human, but when Jun looked into his eyes, he saw confusion and concern there.

The stranger crouched down and asked "Hey, you okay man?" as Jun nodded, he muttered "Okay, let's get you on your feet." When Jun stood up, the man seemed to realize just how tall he was; Jun stood at 6'5", a full head taller than him. He whistled "Damn, you are a _big _SOB. You look like you can fight too."

"Damn straight I can, I'm a Spartan. Name's Jun, can you tell me where the hell I am?"

"Nice to meet you Jun, name's Evans, but my friends call me Gunner. And it's my privilege to welcome you to Omega: the galaxy's official shithole; completely lawless; controlled by mercenaries and gangs; and where the strong prey on the weak without mercy." He announced in a cheerful tone. When Jun simply looked at him with a blank stare he grew serious and sighed "Yeah, it's actually that bad. But a few months ago someone finally decided to take a stand and tell the mercs here that they can go fuck themselves. Nobody really knows who he is or where he came from, but he's the closest thing the people here have to a hero. I'm actually serving on his team if you want to meet him."

Jun quickly got the feeling that he was in a _very_ strange place. He asked "Will he want to meet me?" He wasn't afraid, but it never hurt to be cautious.

Evans instantly told him "Just look at you dude! I can tell that you're a person who could do some serious damage. Trust me; he'll probably _want_ to recruit you."

Figuring that this vigilante could possibly give him some useful information, Jun agreed. After grabbing his guns, Evans took him down a series of hidden passages leading to a makeshift base. As they approached it, Jun had to admire where they had camped out; it was very difficult to find; it was at the centre of a series of collapsible tunnels, except for a _very_ exposed bridge that only the suicidal would attempt. As Evans typed in the access codes and they entered the base, Jun quickly found himself face to face with a grumpy looking four eyed alien. Jun almost shot him with his pistol out of surprise, but his Spartan discipline won out. Besides, Jun wasn't the type to attack an unknown. The alien asked Evans a question in a strange language with an annoyed tone. Jun quickly asked "What did this guy just say?" He didn't ask what he _was_ so he wouldn't offend him, or sound like an idiot.

It turned out that he'd already failed the second part as Evans gaped at him "Don't you have a translator?" When Jun shook his head he sighed "How have you survived in this galaxy? Chathak, you're a tech. You got a spare?"

A few minutes later Jun could apparently understand almost every language in the galaxy, and he was meeting Omega's notorious vigilante that had somehow managed to piss off every major merc organization in the 'Terminus Systems'. He had Dot check what was apparently called the extranet, who discreetly told him it looked like he was in a completely different _galaxy_. Also that the four eyed alien he'd met earlier was something called a batarian, and that the creature that vaguely resembled a bird of prey in front of him was a turian. The turian walked up to Jun, and asked him suspiciously "Who are you, and what do you want?"

Jun considered his options. He figured that this turian was trying to make a difference for the people here, but he wouldn't leave obvious loose ends that could be exploited by the mercs here. Jun knew where his base of operations was now. He'd quickly realized that he was either going to have to fight his way out, or join up with them. Fortunately for these people though, Jun was a compassionate person. And even though he couldn't fight for the UNSC, at least he could still protect the innocent. After a second he responded "My name is Jun. Evans told me about what's going on here at Omega, and I want to help out."

The turian then seemed to look at Jun for what he really was for the first time, then held out his hand "Pleased to meet you Jun, I can tell you're going to be a productive member of the team."

Jun then curiously asked "So now that I'm with you guys, mind telling me what your name is?"

The turian gave a small grin – or his species' equivalent – then answered "The people around here call me Archangel."

* * *

><p><strong>Alright guys, there's chapter four!<strong>

**If you're wondering why I didn't mention Nobles One, Four, and Six, don't worry I haven't forgotten about them. It's just that all they're really doing for now is holding out in that Forerunner relic. I'll come back to them when it's time for them to go into the Mass Effect universe. When? You'll just have to be patient and find out.**

**Oh yeah, if you're wondering why it took Jun three hours to get to Omega, remember that slipspace jumps aren't instantaneous; they take time – a few hours at least.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey guys, once again I'm responding to a few reviews.**

**Sheity****: Nice to see that you like my story enough to review it **_**twice**_** despite you saying that you don't review very often. As for what you said about this being "my story so I can do what I want with it"... well that may be true, but I want this story to be about what the fans want. I mean, that's what Bioware does; and it's worked out pretty damn well for them. And about Jun possibly saving Garrus' team; part of me wants to do that, but then it just wouldn't be staying true to Mass Effect's plot.**

**Kaijudospartan****: Your second review clearly involved a lot of critical thinking, thank you. You did an excellent job explaining how Jorge and Samara could form a close friendship. I just want to point out that one thing you got wrong is that according to one of the first few conversations Shepard has with Samara in the game, the code of the Justicar does **_**not**_** forbid romance. Samara merely refuses to pursue such a relationship, but then again; this is a fanfic. What do you guys want to happen with Jorge and/or Samara? As for a romance between Six and Miranda or Tali or Kasumi, I've already got a little something planned for Kasumi – nothing big though. Anyway, who do you guys want to see Six with, Miranda or Tali? And about a potential Emile/Tali... I just can't picture it compared to Emile/Jack. I mean, Emile just charges into battle with his kukri knife screaming for blood, and Tali is the cutest, softest, nicest person I've ever seen; Emile would scare the living shit out of her! The thing you said about Emile and big guns tech was pretty interesting, but the tech that Tali specializes in is more based on engines. If only there was some kind of female version of Garrus; look at how much time he spends calibrating the **_**Normandy's**_** guns!**

**Im2lazy4aname****: As for me saying that Jun was in the Army, I found this on Bungie's official website in the Halo Reach: Intel: Personnel section on Emile's profile **_**"S-239's collection of alien contraband is truly impressive. However, the existence of said collection is in direct violation of NAVCOM General Order 098831A-1/Sub_7. Good thing we're ARMY."**_** So based on this, it looks to me like Noble team is under the command of the Army. You can check it out for yourself if you think I'm making it up. But I can understand your initial statement; Spartans probably do **_**normally**_** serve in the Navy. I was just going with what Bungie seemed to be telling me about Noble team.**

**Chapter 5: I Thought You Were Dead**

Shepard's mind was racing from the conversation he'd just had with Aria. He had to pick up a salarian scientist trying to deal with a plague, and a vigilante with most of the mercenaries in Omega out for his head. He hated leaving innocents to the mercy of a plague – even if it was only for another day or two – but he _needed_ Archangel for his mission, and it didn't sound like he'd last much longer. Fortunately, Aria had told him that the mercs were getting so desperate to kill Archangel that they had started hiring _anyone_ with a gun to help them. He had Jorge and Jack with him, and Miranda, Jacob, and Kasumi were back on the _Normandy_, with their newest arrival Zaeed, moving in. He activated his radio and called his ship "EDI, tell Zaeed to meet us at Afterlife as soon as he's done moving in." He decided to leave the others on the Normandy because he could tell that they didn't really want to go onto Omega even if they didn't have to fight.

_*Affirmative, Commander.*_ EDI instantly responded.

While Shepard waited, he went down to the lower section of the club, where he went up to a batarian bartender and ordered a drink. A few seconds later, Shepard was gulping down something that he was desperately trying not to taste. But as soon as he put the glass back down, his chest started burning, and he collapsed.

* * *

><p>Shepard slowly began to raise his head as his vision cleared up. He saw Jorge kneeling down to face him, muttering "Commander, can you hear me?"<p>

Shepard shook his aching head in an attempt to clear his mind and groaned "What's going on here?"

He then noticed a stranger standing between Jorge and Jack as he got up, who told him reassuringly "You ought to be alright. Just take 'er easy." When Shepard raised his head to look him in the eye, the stranger sighed "Looks like you broke the first rule of Omega: don't order a drink at Afterlife if you're human."

Confused, Shepard rubbed his neck and asked "Humans aren't welcome at Afterlife?"

The stranger suddenly seemed to get angry, and grumbled "It's just that one batarian bartender; he's got a stick up his ass about a bunch of batarians that died a while back. No one does a thing about it though, humans aint exactly held in high regard around here."

Shepard got more than a little pissed off as he muttered "That bartender tried to _poison_ me?"

The man in front him explained "'Tried' is the word. As far as I know you're the first human to survive it." After a pause he admitted "Me and my friend Jake went there to celebrate our new shipping business. He got real drunk, and an hour later he was puking blood."

Making a mental note to confront this bartender ASAP, Shepard said "Duly noted, let's get back to work."

Just as they were leaving to go meet up with Zaeed, they heard the stranger mutter "Be careful out there."

* * *

><p>While on their way to go have a chat with the bartender, Shepard suddenly had an elderly human woman walk up to him with an incredulous expression and stutter "Commander Shepard, is that you? I-I'd heard you were <em>dead<em>!" Before he could ask who she was, she answered that question for him "I'm Helena Blake, we met a few years ago. I don't expect you'd remember. You removed two criminal warlords from power and... persuaded me to retire. I'll never forget it."

Remembering her all too well, Shepard narrowed his eyes and said "And now you're on Omega. Once a criminal always a criminal, eh?"

Helena assured him "Oh no, Commander, I retired. I know better than to go back on my word with _you_. You convinced me to turn my life around. I'm a... social worker now, believe it or not."

"That seems like a hopeless job in a place like this."

Helena chuckled "Quite the opposite actually; this place needs it more than most. Doing the good work in a place like this requires that one understands how things truly work. Which makes me uniquely qualified."

Finding himself suddenly respecting the woman in front of him a lot more, Shepard said thoughtfully "That's... more noble than I expected."

Helena smiled modestly "Noble? No. It's just that 'someone' came along and a few years ago and made me see the error of my ways. You convinced me that I could use my contacts and skills, for things _other_ than smuggling and exploitation. I thank you for that."

Shepard curiously asked "What brings you to Omega?"

"What brings anyone to Omega? Opportunity, success, failure, all of the above? I find this place suits me. I can bring it a certain... air of civility, I suppose."

Shepard nodded and smiled "Well, I'm glad to you're keeping out of trouble."

Helena responded "Thank you, this is all to your credit Commander."

"I have to go." The Commander said.

The former criminal nodded understandingly "Of course. You must have more important things to do."

As they walked away, Jorge muttered "Damn Shepard. I knew that you were a hero, but I've never heard of someone who could turn a crime lord into a saint."

The Commander chuckled "What can I say? I have a talent for persuasion."

* * *

><p>Walking towards where he'd find the bartender that had poisoned him, Shepard suddenly turned to the Spartan next to him "Jorge, I think that you should hang back here for the moment so he doesn't recognize us – you're kind of hard to forget." The Spartan simply nodded, and started looking for a place to sit that wouldn't collapse under the weight of his MJOLNIR armour. Meanwhile, Shepard and Jack went up to the batarian.<p>

The bartender took one look at Shepard and curiously asked "Do I know you?" He quickly dismissed that idea and muttered "No, no, you humans all look the same. Here, have a drink – on the house." As he passed a glass over to the Commander – this one likely filled with the same 'special ingredient'.

Shepard angrily looked at the bartender and strictly told him "I'm not going to drink your _poison_. Neither is anyone else."

The batarian moaned "Oh crap, it _was_ you! How the hell did you survive? What are... what happens now?" He asked nervously.

"Why the hell would you try to kill me? I've done nothing to you." Shepard demanded.

The batarian bitterly spat "My brothers were stationed on Bekke when the humans came and slaughtered everyone. No one survived. Your people took my family away! Guess I wanted to return the favour."

Shepard leaned forward and loudly asked "What do you think these people will do when they find out you're poisoning your customers?"

A turian who'd heard him came up to the bar and asked "Poisoning what now?"

"This has nothing to do with you!" The bartender shouted.

Shepard demanded "Who's next, turians? You don't like them either, right?"

The turian got up and dangerously muttered "Answer the damned question Forvan!"

Forvan took out his pistol, and sneered "You want a piece of me? I'll leave your corpse for the vorcha."

Just as he pointed the gun at Shepard, the turian shot him with his own pistol. He took one look at Shepard and simply told him "Not taking any chances"

* * *

><p>"About time you three showed up. I was starting to consider getting myself a lap dance from one of those asari strippers." Zaeed grumbled as Shepard, Jack and Jorge came into view.<p>

"Sorry, had to take care of a batarian bartender who thought it was fun to poison humans." Shepard explained.

Jorge chose that moment to speak "Well now that we've dealt with him, let's go to the freelancer recruitment station so we can find Archangel." Zaeed nodded, and gulped down the last of his drink as he got up to follow them.

Shepard walked to the Blue Suns merc next to where Aria had told him the freelancers were signing up at and said "I hear you're recruiting."

The mercenary ran a calculating eye over each of them and said "Hmm... Why don't you step inside?" as he gestured towards the door.

Shepard's team walked through the door, and saw another Blue Sun talking to a freelancer, lazily muttering "You'll get paid when the job's done – just like everyone else." Raising his head, he sighed "Who's next?" As Shepard walked up to him, he gave a small grin "You four look like you could do some damage. Looking for a good fight?" He mainly looked at Jorge while saying this.

Shepard gave a silent chuckle in his mind and said "You could say that."

The merc started typing at his terminal and absentmindedly muttered "Standard fee is five hundred credits each. You get paid when the job is done. If you die, your friends don't collect your share. You'll need your own weapons and armour – looks like you got _that_ covered." He said while eyeing their guns. "And no, this does not make you a member of the Blue Suns, Eclipse, or the Blood Pack. You are a freelancer, _period_. Any questions?" He grumbled in a tone that signified that he was tired.

Remembering what Aria said about how much these three merc organizations hated each other, Shepard wondered "Why are the mercs working together to take down Archangel?"

"You haven't been on Omega long, huh?" Before Shepard could answer, the merc explained "He does everything he can to screw with us; shipments go missing; operations are compromised. Every month it gets worse. Tarak and the other bosses are tired of losing credits... and men.

Curious about this Tarak, as well as the others, Shepard asked "Is he a heavy hitter? How many bosses are involved in this attack?"

"Yeah, Tarak runs the Blue Suns, but all three bosses are overseeing the operation. Jaroth's leading the Eclipse, and Garm's the head of the Blood Pack." Glancing up, he muttered "Tarak's in charge, but, the others would never say that. I'm surprised they're in on this at all, but I guess getting rid of Archangel is worth it."

"Seems like a lot of trouble for just one guy." Shepard sighed. He hoped that Archangel was worth shooting through all these mercs.

The Blue Sun explained "Archangel had a whole team, but we've dealt with most of them. Now it's just him and one other guy. But they've got the advantage: it's their base of operations, and they know we're coming. They've planned for an attack like this. We've lost a lot of men trying to get to them already."

"It's going to be tough to get to them." Shepard muttered, crossing his arms.

The batarian agreed "Like chasing a vorcha out of the sewer pipes. But that's why we're recruiting. If we just keep throwing fighters at them, we'll get them eventually."

"Where's the attack taking place?"

"Archangel's base of operations, he's been hiding right under our noses. I can't tell you exactly where you're going, but we'll get you there."

"What do we do once we're there? How do we get to Archangel?"

The Blue Sun answered in an uncaring tone "The mercs will tell you when you get there. Last I heard they were putting the freelancers into scouting groups. They attack in waves to distract Archangel and his friend while we try to get past their defences."

"So we're just fodder for their bullets?" Shepard demanded, angry at how they seemed to not care at all about a person's life.

"If you don't like it – don't sign up." The recruiter retorted. "But if you do your job right, it's easy credits. Besides, what are the odds that they can kill all of you?"

Having all of his questions about the attack answered for now, Shepard cracked his knuckles and asked "Where do we go?"

"Just head over to the transport depot outside the club. One of our boys will take you from there." Returning to his terminal, he radioed the guard at the door and said "Send in the next one."

As Shepard walked out the door, a human walked past him and asked "Hey, is this where I sign up?"

Shepard turned around to look at him, and was surprised to see that he seemed to barely be past his teens. "You look a little young to be freelancing as a merc."

"I'm old enough!" The kid snapped. "I grew up on Omega; I know how to use a gun."

Jorge stepped forward and warned him "Yeah, and Archangel knows to use one well enough to piss off _three_ major merc organizations."

"I can handle myself." The kid insisted. "Besides, I just spent fifty credits on this pistol, and I want to use it."

Shepard stepped forward and told the kid "Get your money back."

He then grabbed the pistol out of the kid's hands, who stammered "Hey! What are you-?"

Shepard hit the gun a few times until he was sure that it was good and jammed. As he handed it back, he told him "Trust me kid, you'll thank me later."

* * *

><p>Jun was keeping watch with his sniper rifle – waiting for the mercs' next attack, and killing anyone he could get a good shot at while Archangel got some desperately needed rest. He saw a skycar stop at the opposite end of the boulevard through his scope. A Blue Suns batarian got out, and was followed by a heavily armoured human carrying a lot of guns. Jun thought to himself <em>'Likely another freelancer... this one looks like he could be trouble. Best to take him out now before-'<em> But just before he lined up the shot, he saw a familiar figure that was seven feet tall get out of the skycar. _'Is that... _Jorge_? I thought he was killed when he stayed behind to blow up the Covenant Super Carrier. How did he get here?'_ Quickly telling himself that that wasn't important right now, Jun shouted "Archangel, wake up!"

Archangel blinked a couple times, then he grabbed his own sniper rifle, completely alert. "What is it Jun? Are the mercs attacking?"

"No, they probably will be soon, but you're not going to believe what just arrived: reinforcements."

Confused, Archangel asked "What do you mean 'reinforcements'?" as he put on his helmet.

"Look over at the opposite end of the boulevard, there's another Spartan over there. He's a close friend of mine, he'll help us."

As Archangel looked though his sniper's scope, he suddenly froze. "There's someone else down there with him; an old friend of _mine_... I thought he was dead."

Feeling slightly curious about his mysterious companion's past, Jun asked "Who is it?"

"If it's really him, you'll find out soon enough. All I know is that this situation suddenly got a whole lot better for the two of us, and FUBAR for those mercs. I actually feel sorry for them."

* * *

><p><strong>I understand if some of you are slightly pissed off that not much happened in this chapter. Don't worry, the next one will hopefully be out soon, and *Spoiler Alert* There will be plenty of shooting, and two of Noble team's members will get a nice reunion.<strong>

**As always; please review, and feel free to ask any questions.**

**See you guys soon!**

**Oh yeah, If you're wondering why Shepard didn't run into Fist at Afterlife when he's a Paragon... I sort of brought Wrex with me when I went up against him in Mass Effect 1.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Knightwolf1875****: Sorry, but we're not going to be hearing from Carter, Emile, and Six that much for a few chapters, and we won't see Kat at all until Shepard goes to Haestrom to recruit her and Tali. But I promise that Haestrom will be the first place Shepard goes to after Horizon.**

**Jacob****: Thanks for all the ideas, they're definitely something to consider. Some of the pairings you suggested are ones I'm not **_**entirely**_** sure about, but they're recipes for great friendships regardless. I won't say too much about potential romances just yet so I don't spoil it. Noble team won't be keeping their original weapons because those guns use lead bullets, and in the Mass Effect universe they have thermal clips. But I will have Mordin examine their guns, and basically take their strengths to apply them to the rest of the squad's guns in the **_**Normandy's**_** lab (you know, research). Also, Noble team will be sticking with Shepard's squad on the **_**Normandy**_** once they join up with him.**

**Okay, now I want to quickly establish something: Master Chief will NOT be appearing in this fanfic, or any sequels that I may or may not decide to make. This story is about Commander Shepard's squad along with Noble team. I know that I've said that this story is about what fans want, but there are still **_**some**_** things that I'm dead set on, I mean come on, this is still my story. As for what those things are, you'll have to wait, keep reading, and find out.**

**Oh, and for those who say that Six is a lone wolf, let me remind you that when he joined Noble team Carter said something along the lines of "Glad to have your skill set, but we're a team. That lone wolf stuff stays behind, clear?"**

**Chapter 6: What Are You Doing Here**

As the freelancers ran onto the bridge with their guns blazing, and desperately trying to avoid taking a sniper shot between their eyes, Jorge muttered "Doesn't look like these vigilantes have much time."

Jack, who was itching for a fight, demanded "Well then what the hell are we waiting for?"

Shepard walked forward as he cracked his knuckles and told them "Come on, we'll give these guys a surprise of our own." The four of them brought out their weapons, and the Commander ordered Jack to unleash a shockwave on the freelancers, an order she gladly followed.

The freelancers were quickly scattered by the biotic's merciless attack, and a couple were even thrown off the bridge completely. Shepard's team didn't waste a second as Jorge and Jack gunned them down, and Shepard and Zaeed ran into Archangel's base to take out the infiltration team. They found them trying to get past a set of doors that Archangel and his friend were probably behind. The mercs barely had time to voice their shock before the majority of them died from an inferno grenade thrown by Zaeed, and the others fell to the ground when Mattock bullets pierced their skulls. A few seconds later, Jorge thundered up the stairs, followed closely by Jack. As soon as they regrouped, they went through the doors, hoping that Archangel or his companion wouldn't shoot them on sight.

They cautiously walked into the room, and in front of them they saw an armoured human with his back to them. He held up a finger, signalling for them to wait a moment, then a second later he fired a shot at a freelancer that they'd missed. He then turned around, and Jorge practically became a statue as he looked into the visor of his old comrade Jun. His fellow Spartan carefully looked each of them over, and as he finally looked back at Jorge, he muttered "You've got some explaining to do Noble Five."

"I could say the same thing about you." Jorge retorted. With that, the two super soldiers began to walk towards each other slowly and deliberately. Shepard was wearing a concerned look, as he didn't know exactly what was going to happen between these two. Eventually Jorge and Jun stood just a few feet from each other, and they simply stared at each other. But after just a few seconds they were unable to maintain the facade, and the two brothers in arms began to shake with laughter, and gladly embraced one another in a rough hug that would have crushed the rib cage of a non-Spartan.

"It's good to see you again you giant son of a bitch." Jun grinned.

Jorge was about to voice his own happiness at seeing a familiar face, but was stopped when he saw an armoured turian walk forward from behind a column. Jack and Zaeed tensed slightly, but Shepard signalled for them to relax, he then turned back to the turian and guessed "Archangel?"

The turian vigilante responded by sitting on a crate, then he removed his helmet. "Shepard... I thought you were dead."

Shepard was shocked beyond reason for a second as he looked into the face of his old friend Garrus Vakarian: the turian C-Sec agent that had joined him to take down the rogue Spectre Saren Arterius two years ago. Shepard was unable to contain his joy at seeing his old friend and spread his arms grinning "Garrus! What are you doing here?"

"We're just keeping our skills sharp, a little target practise." Garrus told him in a tired tone with forced humour.

Suddenly worried about his friend, the Spectre asked "You okay?"

"Been better, but it sure is good to see a friendly face."

Jun added "Killing mercs is hard work, especially when it's just the two of us."

Confused, Shepard asked "What are the two of you doing out here on Omega?"

Garrus grumbled "I got fed up with all the bureaucratic _crap_ on the Citadel, figured I could do more good on my own. At least it's not hard to find criminals here; all we have to do is point our guns and shoot."

When the Commander looked at Jun, he sighed "Look, can we tell each other our life stories when we_ don't_ have a horde of mercenaries shooting at us?"

Remembering the way each of the merc bosses had talked about these two vigilantes, Shepard gaped "How did you manage to piss off _every major merc organization in the Terminus Systems_?"

Garrus chuckled "It wasn't easy; I _really_ had to work at it. Jun only joined up about a week ago; just in time for the big finale. I am amazed that they teamed up to fight us, they must _really_ hate us."

"Since when did you start calling yourself 'Archangel'?"

"It's just a name the locals gave me for... all my good deeds." After a pause he awkwardly coughed "I don't mind it, but please, it's uh, just 'Garrus' to you."

Jorge then remembered something he wasn't exactly fond of "The two of you nailed us good a couple of times, by the way."

Garrus assured him "Concussive rounds only, no harm done. Didn't want the mercs getting suspicious."

Not entirely convinced, Jorge muttered "Uh huh."

Jun stepped forward "If we wanted to do more than take your shields down, we'd have done it. Besides, you were taking your sweet time – something the two of us don't exactly have – we needed to get you moving."

Shepard quickly realized that the Spartan III was right. He sighed "Well we got here, but I don't think getting out will be as easy."

Garrus agreed "No, it won't. That bridge has saved me and Jun's lives; funnelling all those witless idiots into scope."

As Shepard walked up to get a good view of the bridge, Jun sighed "_But_... it works both ways. They'll slaughter us if we try to get out that way."

Zaeed grunted "So we just sit here and wait for them to come and put us down like rabid varren?"

"It's not all that bad." Garrus assured them. "This place has held them off so far. And... with the four of you... I suggest; we hold this location; wait for a crack in their defences; then take our chances."

Jun muttered "It's not the best plan I've ever heard, but at least it's a plan."

Shepard looked at Garrus and asked "How did you let yourself get into this position?"

Garrus grunted "My feelings got in the way of my better judgment... it's a long story. I'll make you a deal: you get us out of here alive, and I'll tell you the whole damn thing."

Shepard gave his turian friend a comforting smile and told him "If we fight as a team, we'll hold them off."

"You're right. Their numbers won't help them in here anyway." Hefting his sniper rifle, Garrus muttered "Let's see what they're up to." As he then looked through the scope of his M-92 Mantis, he frowned "Hmm, looks like they know their infiltration team failed." He then looked over at Jun and told him "Jun, take a look. Scouts, Eclipse I think."

As Jun looked at the mechs that were marching onto the bridge, he saw that there was at least a squadron of them. He then noticed that unfortunately he only had one shot left for his beloved sniper rifle, so he figured he might as well use it. He fired his last shot to take one of the LOKI mech's heads clean off. He then looked over at Garrus and informed him "More than scouts, one less now though."

"Indeed," Garrus sighed "We'd better get ready." Turning back to Shepard he told the Spectre "Jun and I will stay up here, we can do a lot of damage from this vantage point. You? You can do what you do best." He grinned "Just like old times, Shepard. Let's give these bastards everything we've got."

Shepard nodded and began to move down the stairs, but stopped when Jun spoke up "Hey, Shepard. I'm out of ammo for my sniper rifle, mind if I borrow yours?"

Shepard nodded as he handed the Spartan his M-29 Incisor, then ran to join his other squad mates who had already started shooting at the Eclipse mercenaries and their mechs. Those that weren't shot right in the head by one of the two snipers above simply met a more gruesome death as they were torn apart by biotics or sheer firepower.

None of the Eclipse ever made it halfway across the bridge.

As the last Eclipse of the first wave was cut down, Jaroth stepped forward and snarled "If you want something done properly... Alright let's see how you handle _this_ Archangel." Then a YMIR mech was deployed on the bridge. As it activated, the Eclipse leader shouted "Go!" to the rest of his mercs.

As the Eclipse ran onto the bridge – confident that now they could win – Garrus radioed Shepard and warned him _*They're sending out the heavy mech.*_

Shepard grinned "That problem should take care of itself." He'd overridden the YMIR mech's friend/foe identification system before the assault had even begun, and he could hear the Eclipse mercs' screams of terror as their greatest weapon suddenly turned against them, forcing them to fight on two fronts. By the time they actually managed to destroy the heavy mech, their numbers were a fraction of what they'd originally been. And the rest didn't last much longer against Shepard's team. Eventually it was down to just Jaroth himself, who could only stare in horror as he watched his entire force of mechs and mercs being completely destroyed. With a scream of pure hatred, he ran onto the bridge with his dual Carnifex pistols blazing. His customized shields and armour allowed him to actually get all the way across the bridge. But then he made the mistake of running straight into Jorge, who gave him a swift punch to the face that sent him flying into a pillar. Once he hit it, the entire back side of Jaroth's skull fractured, and he slid down to the ground leaving a long smear of blood and brains on the pillar.

Jorge looked at the mess Jaroth's body had left and muttered "These salarians are so _fragile_."

Their radios beeped as Jun's voice came up _*Looks like that's all of them for now. Get back up here before they regroup.*_

* * *

><p>As the Commander and the others came face to face with the two snipers, Garrus grinned "You're kicking ass Shepard; they barely touched us. And, we got Jaroth in the process. I've been hunting that little bastard for <em>months<em>."

Shepard asked "Why were you after him?"

The vigilante grumbled "He's been shipping tainted eezo all over Citadel space, half the goods I seized back at C-Sec came from his team here on Omega." He then chuckled "I took out a big shipment with Jun's help right after he joined up, killed Jaroth's top lieutenant in the process. I'm not surprised he decided to work with the other mercs after that,"

Jorge then pointed out "We've still got Blood Pack and Blue Suns left. You think we can make a break for it?"

Jun muttered "Maybe, let's see what they're up to." Noble Three then faced the bridge and used his helmet's optical zoom system. "They've reinforced the other side – heavily. But they're not coming over the bridge yet... what are they waiting for?" Then what sounded like an explosion shook the base for a couple seconds, and the alarms started going off.

"What the _fuck_ was that?" Jack demanded.

Garrus checked his omni-tool and cursed "Damn it! They've breached the lower level." He sighed "Well they had to use their brains eventually. You'd better get down there Shepard, Jun and I will keep the bridge clear."

Knowing that Garrus would be safe with a Spartan watching his back and the turian watching Jun's, Shepard nodded and took his three companions down the stairs to make sure they wouldn't be surrounded by the Blood Pack.

* * *

><p>Right away, Shepard's team saw a large door open, and Blood Pack mercs were swarming out of it. He nodded to Jack, who instantly threw a shockwave at the vorcha, and Shepard ran to hit the button that would keep the damn pests out while Jorge and Zaeed laid down cover fire. In just a few seconds, they could hear the furious roars of krogans who found themselves being denied a fight, and deciding to make do with their own vorcha instead.<p>

Shepard looked around and saw that there were still two shutters that the Blood Pack were coming out of, and shouted "Let's split up so we can get these doors shut nice and quick. Jorge and Zaeed, you two will take the right side. Jack and I will go left. The Spartan and the mercenary instantly ran to the right corridor, while Shepard and Jack went to deal with the ones on the other side. As soon as the Spectre opened the doors, he saw that they were in a tight hallway with sharp turns. He quickly took out his geth plasma shotgun that Cerberus had given him, and started firing at the vorcha. With him and Jack both being properly equipped for close quarters combat, the two of them quickly made it through the hallway. Then Jack rounded a corner, and was instantly surrounded by fire. Her biotic barrier barely managed to hold up as she ran right back to where Shepard was.

"There's a vorcha right around the corner with a fucking flamethrower!" the ex-con spat.

Shepard took the next couple seconds trying to figure out how to deal with this, then an idea formed in his head. "Stay here, I'll take care of that damn vorcha." Without another word, the Spectre cloaked himself. He rounded the corner, and saw that there was a small group of Blood Pack – including a krogan – waiting behind the vorcha flame unit. Shepard then got an even better idea in his head as he took his Phalanx, and shot a single round into the flamethrower's tank. Just as the vorcha began to wonder what was causing a mysterious hissing sound, he was thrown back by the Spectre's biotics. Shepard immediately took cover, and felt an enormous wave of heat wash over him, combined with the tortured dying screams of vorcha and krogan alike.

Jack rounded to corner to see what had happened, and as she surveyed the burnt corpses she whistled "Nice work Shepard."

He chuckled "Thanks, but let's get that shutter closed so I don't have to do it again." With that, Jack shut the door, and had just enough time to kill one last vorcha before it closed completely. Shepard then radioed Jorge and Zaeed to see how they were doing "Jorge, have you and Zaeed closed that shutter yet?"

_*I was just about to hit the button to close it, Commander.*_ Jorge responded _*Wait for us over where we split up. Zaeed and I will meet you there.*_

* * *

><p>"Get back here Shepard; they're coming though the doors." Garrus told his friend as the Blood Pack welded their way into the base. Then the doors opened, and an angry Garm stormed in with the rest of his Blood Pack in tow.<p>

"Raaahh! Rip them to shreds!" The merc leader roared just before the vorcha next to him collapsed due the sniper round in its skull. Garm instantly looked upward to see Garrus and Jun pointing their rifles at him and his bodyguards. The krogan snarled "Watch my back. I'll deal with Archangel." The krogan and the turian had a score to settle with one another. Then two more vorcha were gunned down as Shepard and his team came into the room. Garm and the rest of the krogan went upstairs, leaving their varren and the vorcha to take care of Shepard. Fortunately for Shepard, Vorcha were notorious for being primitive and stupid, and these ones were no exception. They were all dead in less than a minute, and then the Spectre's team went up to the stairs to come face to face with several krogan. Shepard let Jorge take point, who quickly proved that it took a lot more than a few krogan to take down a Spartan.

They then ran into the room where Garm was, and found him locked in a firefight with Garrus and Jun. Despite Garm's battle experience combined with his krogan regenerative abilities, the two snipers seemed to have the upper hand. So when Shepard and the others came in, the krogan only had enough time to go into a blood rage before a charged blast from Jack's geth shotgun put him down for good.

They all took a moment to breath, and Jun muttered "Hmm, tough bastards, but I've seen worse."

Garrus grinned "And we took out Garm and his Blood Pack. This day just gets better and better. He was one tough son of a bitch."

Noticing the last statement, Shepard remembered what Garm had said back in the mercs' base about him fighting Garrus one on one and asked "You've fought with him before?"

Garrus muttered "Yeah we tangoed once. I caught him alone; none of his gang to help him. I still couldn't take him out. I've never seen a krogan regen that fast, he's a freak of nature. He just kept at it until his vorcha showed up. It was close, but... I had to let him go." He then smirked "Not this time."

Jorge pointed out "Only the Blue Suns are left, I say we take our chances and fight our way out."

Jun responded "I think you're right. Tarak's got the toughest group, but nothing that any of us haven't faced before. Besides, he won't be expecting us to meet him head on." But as soon as he finished speaking, the gunship that the Blue Sun's engineers had been working on before the assault began appeared in the window – fully operational.

A split second before it opened fire on them, Zaeed shouted at everyone "Get down!"

As they took cover, Garrus cursed "Damn it! I thought I took that thing out already."

Shepard sighed "I'm afraid they fixed it." He'd had a chance to kill the engineer that was repairing the gunship, but Sheppard only killed when he absolutely had to. Besides, there was a reason he'd brought a rocket launcher.

But before he could aim it at the gunship, it flew above the window and out of range, where a dozen Blue Suns officers – including Tarak's second in command: Jentha – propelled down into the very room they were in. She was backed up by a few of Tarak's other lieutenants, as well as several normal Blue Suns. The front liners went down quickly, and although the officers put up a good fight, Shepard's team had faced _much_ worse in the past. Eventually Jentha was on her own while the gunship went back to load up with more mercs, and she was distracted by a hologram of Jun. By the time Jentha realized it was a fake, Garrus had already lined up the shot that took her life. But then they discovered that while they'd been dealing with the Jentha and her mercs, other Blue Suns had used the distraction to make it across the bridge and into the base.

Jorge and Jack went up the top of the stairs to keep the Blue Suns from getting too close, while the rest of them used their higher ground to their advantage as they took down the Blue Suns one headshot at a time. But then the Blue Suns brought in their remaining lieutenants, and the mercs that were packing their heavy firepower. The ones with missile launchers forced them all into cover, which gave the rest of the mercs the time they needed to get up the stairs. Jorge and Jack were forced back, and the rest of them ran into the hall to take down the mercs before they swarmed the hall. But Shepard's team quickly adapted to the new style of fighting, and it wasn't long before the mercs were trampling each other to get back down the stairs and out of the base for good. As they did so however, Garrus made his way back to his original position and shot the mercs down before they could get away.

Garrus then waited for the others to rejoin him, when suddenly Tarak's gunship reappeared right in front of him. "_Archangel!_" The leader of the Blue Suns screamed over the ship's speaker system as its machine gun fired dozens of armour piercing rounds into the turian. Garrus was barely able to take cover before his shields were completely destroyed. "_You think you can screw with the Blue Suns?_" Tarak demanded as Garrus went out of his machine gun's range. "_This, ends, NOW!_" Then he lowered the gunship so that its rocket launchers could fire right into the room. Garrus saw this, and frantically tried to get out of the way before he was blown up. But as he dived for better cover, Tarak fired a rocket right into his face.

Shepard and the others ran into the room to take cover. As the Spectre looked at his friend he screamed "Garrus!" desperately hoping that he was alive. But the turian vigilante simply lay there, with his flesh smoking and his blood pooling around him. Shepard cursed as he realized that he wouldn't be able to get any type of medical attention for his friend as long as they had a gunship firing at them. As he vowed to make Tarak pay, each member of Shepard's team used their greatest strengths against the gunship; Jorge emptied countless rounds into it with his Sledgehammer; Jack mercilessly pounded it with her biotics; Zaeed decimated its electrical systems with disrupter rounds; Jun used the legendary precision known to only the greatest of snipers to devastating effect; and Shepard blew the damn thing out of the sky with his rocket launcher.

As the gunship crashed to ground in a smoking heap of metal and fire with Tarak and the remaining Blue Suns inside it, Shepard finally got the chance to check on Garrus. The Commander approached his friend slowly, fearing the worst. But then the turian's eyes opened and he gave a painful gasp. "Garrus!" Shepard muttered, as he forced himself to stay calm while applying medi-gel to Garrus' wounds.

Jun knelt down next to his companion as assured him "We're getting you out of here Garrus, just hold on."

Shepard looked over at Zaeed and ordered "Radio Joker. Make sure they're ready for us."

As Jorge looked down at Garrus with great sadness while the turian choked on his own blood, he sighed "I don't know if he's going to make it."

* * *

><p>Emile was sharpening his kukri knife again, when a he sighed and looked up at his Commander. "Sir, do you think there's a way we could actually survive this?"<p>

Carter admitted "I have my doubts Emile. The Covenant have probably killed every other human and destroyed every city and military base on the planet, yet it _still_ isn't enough for them." Noble's leader then turned to his other remaining Spartan. "Six, what can you tell me about this Forerunner structure? Is there anything about it that we could use?"

Six signalled for Emile to take the watch for a moment, then as he stepped down he responded "Even with the data on the files I copied from Dr. Halsey combined with the scans from Dot, we just don't know enough about Forerunner technology to make an accurate guess as long as this place is inactive."

As Emile watched for signs of any Covenant, he grunted "Well we can't just sit here while Reach is being glassed and wait for the whole Covenant to realize that there's three 'demons desecrating a holy relic.'"

Carter looked at Six and asked "Any way we get this place online?"

Six answered "If we all upload Dr. Halsey's data about the Forerunners to our own copies of Dot, they might be able to bring it online in a few days if they all work together at full capacity."

"'Might be able to'?" Noble One muttered, not liking the sound of that.

Six sighed "Keep in mind that even Dr. Halsey didn't really know that much about how Forerunner technology works. And in spite of all this data, Dot is still a 'dumb' AI, so it could take a lot longer than a few days to make this relic work. There's also the fact that once Dot starts to bring it online, the Covenant will undoubtedly detect the energy signatures. And when they do they'll send soldiers to investigate."

Emile announced "Personally sir, I'd rather go down fighting those holy self-righteous assholes than die a slow and painful death from starvation or some shit."

As Noble's leader looked at his Spartans, he then looked up at the sky and saw the Covenant burning Reach. They wouldn't stop until the entire planet was covered in their damn plasma. If his Spartans stayed here, they _would_ die. Carter turned to face Six and told him "Alright Six, Emile and I will give you our copies of Dot, and then you make sure they get this place back in working order." With that, Noble's leader grabbed his DMR and ordered "Get ready Noble team; we're gonna have one hell of a fight on our hands soon enough."

Emile grinned "About time."

* * *

><p><strong>Does anyone want to guess what that Forerunner Artefact's purpose is? (I think we can all imagine a <strong>_**few**_** possibilities.)**

**Thank you all so much for all the awesome reviews you've given to me and this story. Please rate and review some more, and I'll see you guys soon!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Sorry it's been so long since the last update guys, I've just been feeling a little lazy in terms of writing. Anyway, before we actually start the chapter, I'm going to respond to a few reviews that I like, or simply make good points.**

**Delta94****: Glad to see that I exceed expectations and make the story easy for the reader to follow.**

**StupidPyroChan****: You do know that there's like, more than eighty Mass Effect/Halo crossover stories on this website, right? I'm just making sure you do know, because apparently this being a crossover between the two video games made you 'squeal with joy'. If you do already know this, then I'll take it that you **_**really**_** love my writing. I just thought I'd let you know that there's a lot of other good crossovers in this field already. I thank you for your support either way. As for what you said about me having the Spartans of Noble team meet with certain people in Mass Effect – like Jun being greeted by Garrus – I'm glad you noticed that! A lot of people were apparently expecting me to bring Jun into the Mass Effect universe last, but personally, I could easily picture Jun fighting alongside Garrus during his time as a vigilante (for reasons including the ones you stated in your review).**

**Hunter113****: You have no idea how awesome it is to see someone completely support every one of their stories as much as you do. I think I can safely count you as my #1 fan! By the way, I'm a guy.**

**Chapter 7: Time For You To Get A Fair Shot**

Shepard and Jun were pacing around in the CIC, both anxious for an update on Garrus' medical status. The wounds he'd taken from the gunship's rocket were severe, and even with the medi-gel he'd lost a lot of blood while being taken aboard the _Normandy_. Jorge was also in the room, not wanting to be separated from his fellow Spartan just yet. He saw his friend's agitated state and asked him "Did you know Garrus very well?"

Noble Three admitted "I've only known him for less than two weeks, and even then I didn't know his name until you and Shepard showed up. But we went through a lot of crazy shit together, and you know from experience how a sense of brotherhood is found when warriors shed blood together."

Jorge simply didn't know what to say that wouldn't agitate Jun more, and was relieved when he saw Lieutenant Taylor come in. The _Normandy's_ Armoury Officer looked over at Shepard and reported "Commander, we've done what we could for Garrus, but he took a bad hit." Shepard and Jun both looked at the ground. Jacob continued "The docs corrected with surgical procedures and some cybernetics. Best we can tell, he'll have full functionality but-" Then before he could say more, the doors opened, and Garrus walked into the room, with a _big_ scar on his face.

The turian looked at who was inside the room and casually said "Shepard, Jun."

Jacob grinned "_Tough_ son of a bitch. Didn't think he'd be up yet."

Garrus pointed at his face and complained "Nobody would give me a mirror, how bad is it?"

Shepard jokingly assured him "Hell Garrus, you were _always_ ugly. Slap some face paint on there, and no one will even notice."

Garrus laughed, then suddenly grabbed his chin and groaned "Ah! Don't make me laugh, _damn_ it, my face is barely holding together as it is." He then smirked "Ah well, probably for the best. Most women were ignoring you and hitting on me, time for you to get a fair shot at it."

The Spectre retorted "Remind me again which one of us actually had a girlfriend on the first _Normandy_?"

"Touché." The turian grunted.

Jorge, ever the voice of reassurance, pointed out "You know, some women actually _like_ men with scars."

Garrus sighed "True, but most of those women are krogan."

Getting the feeling the atmosphere in the room was becoming somewhat personal rather than professional; Jacob saluted and left for the armoury.

Garrus watched him go – eyeing the Cerberus emblem on his uniform – then turned back to Shepard, growing serious. "Frankly I'm more worried about you Shepard. _Cerberus?_ You remember those sick experiments they were doing?"

The Spectre told him "That's why you're here Garrus. If I'm walking into hell, I want someone I trust at my side."

The turian looked at Shepard like he was crazy, then pointed out "You realize this plan has _me_ walking into hell too, right?" Then Garrus gave a grin that made _him_ look crazy "Just like old times."

This was when Jun entered the conversation again. "I'm sorry, but can we back up a couple steps? What exactly is 'Cerberus'?"

Shepard sighed "Cerberus is the group that's funding our mission and supplying a lot of our intel. As for what they do; they're a pro-human organization determined to ensuring the survival and advancement of humanity at all costs. But that policy has resulted in them being called terrorists, and with good reason I should add."

Jorge added "Basically Jun, picture ONI in this galaxy, and then take away all forms of supervision and oversight."

The analogy left Jun speechless for a full second. Then he said "I may be a Spartan, but even I find that thought scary." Noble Three looked over at the _Normandy's_ Commander then told him "I hope you've got a _really_ good reason for working for these people Commander."

Shepard admitted "I don't like Cerberus at all myself Jun. But let me make one thing clear: I'm working _with_ Cerberus, not for them. After this mission, I'm done with these xenophobes. But I have to play nice for now because they seem to be the only group of people that's actually doing something about the Collectors and the Reapers."

"What exactly _are_ those?"

Jorge explained to his friend "The Collectors are some sort of mysterious race that apparently possesses technology more advanced than anyone in the galaxy. They've been abducting entire human colonies for some reason lately, and Shepard is assembling a team to stop them." He then looked over at Shepard, "The Commander hasn't told what the Reapers are."

Shepard rubbed his forehead and sighed, "Okay, this is going to sound far-fetched, but hear me out." When they nodded, Shepard turned towards the Noble Five. "Jorge, when you were reading the codex, did you read about the geth attack on the Citadel led by Saren two years ago?"

The Spartan II nodded "Yeah, that's also when you told the Alliance fleet to save the _Destiny Ascension_, and humanity was granted a seat on the Citadel Council as a reward."

"Did you read anything about a geth dreadnought at the head of the attacking fleet?"

"Yes, it was commandeered by Saren, and apparently it took the entire fifth fleet to destroy the damn thing. What about it?"

Shepard muttered "That ship wasn't commandeered by Saren, in fact it wasn't even a geth ship."

Confused, Jun stepped in "Not to be rude Commander, but could you please get to the point?"

The Spectre explained "That 'geth dreadnought' was actually a Reaper called Sovereign. While I was investigating Saren after he went rogue, I 'discovered' the Reapers. They're a race of sentient AI dreadnoughts that have returned to this galaxy from deep space every fifty thousand years to wipe out all advanced organic life. And they've been doing it for god knows how long. But the Alliance Brass and the Council won't hear it. They dismiss my claims about the Reapers as being mistaken or delusional, because don't want to have to worry about an unstoppable fleet of warships that are hell-bent on galactic extinctions."

The two Spartans took a moment to think about what Shepard said. Finally Jun responded "That _definitely_ sounds far-fetched Commander. Fortunately for you, I'm a super-soldier that has pretty much lived his whole life in fear of the Covenant. So the part about 'my entire species being on the verge of extinction' actually isn't that much of a change for me." Noble team's sniper then added "But even if you are crazy, I owe you for getting me off of Omega. And Jorge tells me that the Collectors are _definitely_ real, and they're a threat to humanity. I'm your man if you need me Commander."

Shepard smiled "Glad to hear it. Why don't you all get settled in? We can talk later."

Garrus announced "I'm fit for duty whenever you need me Shepard. For now I'll see what I can do at the forward batteries." With that, he left to go calibrate the _Normandy's_ weapons, and Jorge left soon after.

Jun walked up to his new Commanding Officer "Commander-"

Shepard held up a hand, stopping the Spartan III. "You don't have to call me 'Commander' all the time Jun. Feel free to just call me 'Shepard' or whatever you feel like at any time."

Jun nodded dutifully, but underneath his helmet the Spartan gave a small smile at Shepard's casualness. "Understood Shepard, anyway I was wondering where I could go to pick out a new sniper rifle since mine's out of ammo, and it seems that this galaxy doesn't manufacture the bullets."

Shepard quickly showed Jun to the armoury. Once they'd entered the room, Shepard informed the Spartan "This is the _Normandy's_ armoury Jun. Here you can take whatever guns we have that you like and even manufacture gun models, so long as the schematics are in our database. If you need any assistance or have any questions about the ship, Lieutenant Taylor or EDI can help you there." With that, Shepard left Noble Three to figure out what his new signature weapons were going to be.

* * *

><p>Jun had eventually decided on the M-98 Widow Anti-Material Rifle. What really got his attention about the gun was <em>everything<em> about it; even amongst sniper rifles it was renowned for its accuracy; it was heavy like his SRS99; it was known to be effective against all types of defences – including armoured vehicles; it had such a strong recoil that it would've _shattered_ the arm of any normal human that tried to fire it. When Jun had gone to test the Widow out, he loved his new toy so much he named the gun after his role model: Spartan-058, Linda. But when Dr. Chakwas had discovered that he'd been repeatedly firing a sniper rifle known to cause serious damage to its own shooters, she'd screamed at him for half an hour without letting Jun get in a single word. Then – ignoring Jun's protests that he was perfectly fine – Dr. Chakwas proceeded to do insistent medical scans, only to discover that a Spartan's bones were virtually unbreakable.

After a formal apology from Chakwas for yelling at him, the Spartan and the doctor were sufficiently embarrassed by the event that both parties agreed to not speak of it again. Jun exited the med bay, where he saw several people – including Garrus, Jorge, and Shepard – sitting at one of the tables in the mess. Jun had had a good feeling about the Commander ever since he'd seen him at Jorge's side. And seeing Shepard casually interacting with the grunts of his crew did a lot to confirm that feeling.

He grabbed some food from Mess Sergeant Gardner – which smelled damn good compared to usual military grade food – and sat down next to Jorge. As Noble Three removed his helmet, he nodded at Shepard who nodded in return. "So, what gun did you eventually decide on?"

Jun answered "Of all the sniper rifles you've got, the M-98 Widow is the one that resembles my old sniper rifle the most, and it packs a hell of a punch."

Garrus stared at him. "Are you crazy Jun? Don't you know what that gun will do to your arms if you shoot it even once?"

Jun chuckled "Garrus, when I told you and the team where I was from, I believe I said something about me being heavily augmented in just about every way imaginable. One of those augmentations is having bones that you might as well call unbreakable. And based on the fact that I've already tested Linda out, and still have both of my arms perfectly intact, it looks like my Spartan augmentations were able to take it."

Shepard warned him "You might want to let Dr. Chakwas know about that. If she finds out you've been firing that thing without knowing about your augmentations, I get the feeling that Linda will be an actual widow soon."

Jun had no reaction that Shepard or Garrus could see, but Jorge was incredibly difficult to read, and was a master at reading others as well. But the Spartan II didn't say anything as he figured that Jun had probably already suffered enough from the doctor alone. So instead he decided to chat up the _Normandy's_ other new arrival. "How about you Garrus? Are you settling in alright?"

"Sure. Just finished calibrating the weapons systems, you can never be too careful." He sighed "I thought I'd seen every weapon in the galaxy in me and Shepard's fight against Saren. Mercenary work showed me otherwise. And now Cerberus rebuilds the _Normandy_, with a few upgrades to boot. I wish we'd joined up with them sooner."

As soon as he said that, Shepard leaned forward with a serious look. "Garrus, we haven't 'joined up' with Cerberus. I'm pretty sure I've established that they're just funding our mission for the time being."

"Don't worry Shepard; I remember what Cerberus is really like." He then looked at the ground in shame "Besides, I can't exactly doubt your judgement... Not after I got my own squad killed."

Jun stopped his comrade right there. "Garrus, it's not your fault they're dead. And even if it is, then I'm just as much to blame, perhaps more."

Jorge decided to intervene before the two vigilantes got into a debate about where the guilt lay. And feeling curious as to what his fellow Spartan had been up to since arriving in this galaxy asked "What exactly did your merc squad do? It didn't sound like you were available for hire."

Garrus grumbled "You saw Omega; it was full of thugs kicking the helpless. I formed my team to kick back. But we weren't mercenaries... at least, nobody was paying us."

Jun explained "Our group made money by taking down pirates, slavers, or gangs that went too far."

Shepard frowned "It sounds like you were just another gang."

Jun murmured "Then I'm not saying it right. We never shook anyone down, and there were _no_ civilian casualties. That was our rule."

"Every member of my team but the two of us had lost someone to Omega's gangs. We weren't out to get rich." muttered Garrus. "We were out to make those bastards think twice before murdering someone in the street."

Jorge forced a chuckle "Sounds like you didn't make any friends amongst the other gangs."

Garrus allowed himself a brief moment of pride. "Jun and I got three separate merc bands to work together to take the two of us down. My manager back at C-Sec would be impressed."

Jun explained their tactics. "It was all surprisingly simple; we'd hit their shipments; disrupt activities; get under their skin; make them angry. Then they'd come charging right into our well prepared kill zone. There was crossfire and snipers. It was all clean, and downright surgical. They never stood a chance."

Shepard then asked a question he'd been dying to know since he'd encountered the vigilantes. "Garrus, when we last spoke, you were returning to C-Sec. And Jun, you're from another galaxy. How did the two of you end up fighting mercenaries on Omega?"

Garrus answered first. "I went back to C-Sec like I told you Shepard, but with all the damage caused from Sovereign's attack there was too much chaos for me to make a difference. And despite what you'd taught me, being on the Citadel ended up reminding me why I left in the first place. As soon the bureaucrats heard that the first _Normandy_ was destroyed and you were dead, they wasted no time tearing apart everything you'd ever said about the Reapers, and making you into the Alliance's poster boy. Omega on the other hand was filled with criminals that nobody in Citadel space could touch, and there was no red tape to slow me down. It suited me perfectly."

Then the attention was turned to Jun. He sighed "Jorge, you should know that not long after you destroyed that Super Carrier, an entire Covenant armada showed up... We never stood a chance. We evacuated as many civilians off of Reach as we could, but the planet itself... has fallen. I was ordered to escort Dr. Halsey of the planet safely, while my fellow Spartans stayed behind to fight. Once I dropped her off at CASTLE base, I went back... or at least I tried to. When I attempted to make the slipspace jump, there was some kind of malfunction. Somehow I ended up crash-landing on Omega, where I was greeted by a human who happened to be a member of Garrus' team. I think you can figure out what happened next."

Garrus spoke up again. "The people here needed someone to believe in, someone to stand up to the local thugs."

Shepard pointed out, "That explains how you each got started, but how did you get a whole squad Garrus?"

"Not too different from how you formed your squad to fight Saren actually. You prove that you can get things done, and people join up." He smiled "Mercs who wanted to atone. Security consultants tired of playing by the rules. I gave them hope." Then suddenly his pride vanished. "And now they're dead. Shows what I know."

"Tell me about your squad."

Garrus explained "There were thirteen of us, including me and Jun. It consisted of former military operatives, C-Sec agents... the usual. We had a salarian explosives expert, I'm pretty sure he'd spent time in the Special Tasks Group. Our tech expert was a batarian, believe it or not. He wasn't the friendliest guy, but he could hack _any_ system ever built."

Jorge thought to himself _'It seems like they had all the bases covered, where did it go wrong?'_ "How did those mercenary gangs take down your team?"

Garrus sighed shamefully "It was my own damn fault. One of my people betrayed me." Before they could ask who, he muttered "A turian named Sidonis. He drew me away right before the mercs attacked my squad, then he disappeared. Everyone except me and Jun is dead because of him, and because _I_ didn't see it coming."

Confused, Jorge asked "I'm not sure if I completely understand. What happened exactly?"

"Sidonis asked for my help on a job, but when I got to the meeting point nobody was there. By the time I got back to my hideout, the mercs had killed everyone but Jun and two others... And they didn't last long.

Shepard wondered "Are you sure it was a betrayal? Maybe the mercs took Sidonis out first."

Garrus argued "No, I've put out feelers with some old contacts. Sidonis booked transport off of Omega just before the attack."

Jun, who also knew about this added "He also cleared out his private accounts before he left... He sold us out, and _ran_."

"Do you have any idea where Sidonis is now?" Jorge asked them both.

Jun sighed "No. That bastard's trail just vanishes once he leaves Omega. But we'll _both_ keep hunting."

Garrus vowed "I lost my entire original team, _except_ for Sidonis. One day, we'll find him... and _correct_ that."

After that, the turian seemed to be feeling a little awkward. "Thanks for the meal, it was good to talk with old friends, and meet a friend of Jun's. But now I've got some calibrations I need to take care of."

Jun spun in his seat to look at his friend in confusion. "You told us that you just _finished_ your calibrations!"

Still walking towards to room where he could do his precious calibrations, Garrus explained "I also told you that you can never be too careful."

* * *

><p><strong>Garrus... you seriously need to find a real hobby dude.<strong>

**Next up: Shepard and his team head out into a plague-infected quarantine zone to recruit a certain salarian scientist!**

**As always, rate and review (especially review), and know that I don't plan on giving up on this story until it is completely and utterly finished!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Hey guys, this chapter might seem a little boring to some, but let's just say that I'm a guy who likes his side quests.**

**The Final Memory****: As stated in previous chapters, this fanfic is about Shepard's story alongside the Spartans of Noble team. Besides, if I were to have an OC of any Covenant species, I'd be surprised if they lasted longer than thirty seconds before Emile blew their brains out, and then added their skulls or armour or whatever he takes, to his trophy collection.**

**Criticanon****: Wait, and find out.**

**Mastermid4892****: The Spartans augmentations is just **_**one**_** of the things Mordin is going to get excited about when he joins the crew of the **_**Normandy**_**.**

**Chapter 8: That's What We Do – Solve Problems**

Shepard departed the _Normandy_ with Jorge, Garrus, and Jun in tow. He'd gotten a message from Aria several minutes ago suggesting that he go talk to her. And Shepard knew that if he wanted to stay on Aria's good side – or at least off of her bad side – then he was going to have that talk ASAP. After all, even Jun had learned on his first day in this galaxy that the one rule on Omega was: Don't. Fuck. With. Aria.

He started walking up the stairs that led to Aria's private booth that overlooked the whole upper level of the club, then was stopped as one her turian bodyguards whispered in a gruff voice "If you're here about the message Aria sent you, you're supposed to talk to me." When Shepard turned towards the turian, he muttered "Aria has a job she needs doing. You up for some work?"

Cautious, Shepard answered "That depends on what Aria has in mind."

"Aria's gotten word that some Blood Pack mercs plan to kill an old acquaintance of hers: a krogan named Patriarch. She'd like you to keep that from happening." The bodyguard explained.

Feeling curious, Jun asked "What's the Blood Pack's problem with Patriarch?"

The turian sighed "If you'd met Patriarch, you'd know. He can't keep his damned mouth shut. Some people don't appreciate his stories, especially when he dips into nonfiction."

"What's Aria's interest in protecting him?" Shepard demanded. Compassion was _not_ one of Aria's fine qualities.

"Patriarch was one of her deadliest enemies back in the old days. Now she keeps what's left of him around as a trophy. As long as he lives, he's a perfect example of what happens when you go up against Aria."

"Why come to me? Aria's usual muscle not up for the job?"

"Because Aria said so," The bodyguard lazily retorted. "what other reason do you need?"

Shepard stepped forward and strictly told him "People like Aria don't do things without a damn good reason, I want to hear it."

"Fine," The turian relented "but you didn't hear this from me. If it gets out that Aria's protecting Patriarch... well, that can look like a weakness. And some people might want to exploit that. You're not on her payroll, so you helping Patriarch just seems like a random act of kindness."

Satisfied with his answers, Jorge finally announced "We'll look into it right away."

"Good. Patriarch's downstairs, likely surrounded by his 'fans'. Get him into hiding until the mercs move on. Come back when it's done, and you'll get your due."

"We'll be back when the job is done."

"Good luck."

* * *

><p>Shepard looked around the club for a while, then noticed an old krogan talking to an asari and a turian who didn't seem to be paying attention. Jun muttered "I'm guessing that's Patriarch."<p>

Shepard's team walked closer, and started overhearing Patriarch's 'conversation'. As they approached, the krogan then seemed to notice the elite squad behind him as he turned and greeted them. "Don't think I know you. I'm the Patriarch, Aria's Patriarch. What do you want?"

Felling curious about Omega's mercenary queen, Shepard asked "What can you tell me about Aria?"

The old krogan sighed resentfully. "A few centuries ago, Omega was _my_ rock. When Aria arrived, she had nothing but the clothes on her back. I thought she was... another dancer! Huh!" He then continued. "She killed half my men and convinced the rest that she could run this place better than I did. She came for me here in this bar. We tore the place apart. She crushed one of my hearts, shattered half the bones in my body... and left me alive."

"What made her decide to leave you alive?" Jun asked, wondering why Aria would show mercy.

Patriarch smirked "Oh, She doesn't destroy what she can use. She said I could have all my _old comforts_ if I served as her advisor." He sighed "I knew how things worked. I knew who to lean on, who to smack down, who to smile at. And everyone who respected me saw me beaten, and broken. They knew, that as strong as I'd been... she was stronger."

"Why do they call you 'Patriarch'?" Noble Five asked.

The krogan explained "Like an asari matriarch, only male. It was Aria's little joke. After she took me down, she let me live. Kept me around as an 'advisor'... and a trophy."

The Spectre pointed out "A krogan as old as you must have some great stories."

Patriarch shrugged "I killed a lot of people, lived well, and was beaten by a small asari who keeps me around as an example... My time is done. Anyone I killed is _long_ forgotten. The stories are Aria's now.

Garrus muttered "Rumour has it some people want you dead. Know anything about that?"

The old krogan answered uncaringly "I can think of a few. I know things; old secrets; old grudges; a few floors you can dig up to find bodies underneath." He then grunted "Someone who wanted to weaken Aria might come after me. They'd do it to get to her you see, not for me... I don't matter enough anymore to have enemies of my own.

Shepard warned him "Some mercenaries are trying to kill you. I've been asked to move you to safety."

"_Of course_. Aria wouldn't want me _hurt_; it would make her look bad" But after a quick look around him, Patriarch growled "But perhaps Aria's reputation is no longer my concern. Perhaps I _will_ stay, and see who thinks me important enough to kill."

As Patriarch went towards the door, Shepard suggested "Here's an idea: let us handle the assassins for you."

"And so your name grows while I remain and old man who lets others fight his battles."

"No. You remain a powerful warlord with forces at his command. Not just Aria's trophy."

The Patriarch stopped in his tracks. "You could... _you_ could be my krantt. Fighting for my honour." He turned towards the Commander. "If you would do this for me, I would be grateful. I might even be a _krogan_ again."

Promising that he would restore the Patriarch's pride and honour, Shepard left to find the assassins.

* * *

><p>Shepard and the others exited the club to search for the Blood Pack mercs, and quickly came across two krogan loading up their guns. They walked up to the mercs, who noticed them and snarled "Out of our way humans."<p>

"You looking for Patriarch?" Jorge demanded.

"What if we are? You gonna do something about it big boy?" These two krogan had obviously never seen a Spartan before, and despite Jorge's intimidating appearance, they were overconfident to say the least. If not outright stupid.

Shepard warned them "Patriarch sent us. Said to do whatever it takes."

One of the mercs laughed "_You're_ Patriarch's krantt? I wasn't aware the old man had one!"

"You should have done your homework."

The two krogan began to raise their weapons, but before they could even level their guns, Nobles Three and Five became a blur. The mercs suddenly found themselves knocked on their asses by some unseen force – and had blood pouring out of their throats due to the knives that had been stuck in them.

* * *

><p>Patriarch saw Shepard walking towards him, and having already heard the news from gossipers on the street, triumphantly roared "You killed them all! And everyone knows that the Patriarch is <em>not<em> to be crossed!" Once he calmed down a bit, Patriarch grinned "Thanks to you, Aria may think of me as _more_ than a trophy. A real advisor maybe. Or even a threat!"

The Spectre smiled "Take care Patriarch."

As he went to deal with other business, the krogan admitted "For the first time... I like that name. By the way, be careful with Aria. She will approve of what you've done – I _think_ – but not of you altering the balance of Omega. I think it reminds her too much of herself."

* * *

><p>Shepard and his companions walked up to Aria's turian guard to tell him that the job was done. But before they could say anything, the guard informed them "Aria wants to speak with you. She heard you took on the Blood Pack assassins yourselves. I wouldn't keep her waiting."<p>

Taking his advice, Shepard walked up to Aria's private booth. As they approached, Aria saw them coming to her, and muttered ominously "Word has it that Patriarch's krantt took out the men sent here to kill him." She then looked Shepard in the eye. "Funny, I didn't know he had a krantt."

The Commander shrugged "Patriarch has more influence than you thought."

"I see... well, maybe I should watch my back then." Omega's queen eventually admitted "It's not what I asked. But you got the job done." Aria then gestured for Shepard to take a seat next to her. "Do you need something else?"

The Commander looked up at Jorge and nodded. Aria – who didn't trust _anyone_ – carefully watched the Spartan II while keeping the others in her peripheral vision. Jorge reached for something in one of his armour's pockets, then he was suddenly held a data pad out to Aria.

As the Asari cautiously looked at the OSD, Shepard explained "This data pad was on one of the mercs going after Archangel. They were coming for you next."

Now intrigued, Aria instantly grabbed the data pad. As she read it, one of her eyebrows went up and she simply stated "Interesting."

Then without warning the mercenary queen threw the file into the face of her nearest guard. "Would some like to tell me how this information slipped the net?"

The unfortunate batarian who had been the subject of her wrath fearfully stammered "I-I'll look into it."

Aria looked at the Spectre again. "You've done a lot for me Shepard, let me return the favour." She gestured at one of her guards, who instantly began typing at his omni-tool. "We're sending you the coordinates to a cache on an uncharted world. You want it? It's yours."

"I'll take all the help I can get."

* * *

><p>Shepard looked around the various stores for a while, buying any equipment that intrigued him and securing a couple discounts in the process. He then took a quick look around the edges of the district to see what else there was, and eventually came across a young male quarian next to a used store kiosk trying to salvage whatever he could. Shepard looked at the title on the kiosk, which said <em>Kenn's Salvage<em>.

Shepard walked up to the quarian – who Shepard guessed was Kenn – who heard the human coming, and turned around to greet him. "Hello there, might I interest you in some salvaged tech?" Kenn sighed "Every credit goes toward a ticket to get me off this forsaken rock."

Shepard offered "I buy a lot of parts and equipment. Maybe we can work out an arrangement."

Kenn took a quick glance around him. "Well... you seem like a decent person, but you can't breathe a _word_ of it to Harrot."

"Of course."

"Then we have a deal." Kenn decided, allowing himself a small glint of hope. "Maybe I'll at least sell something to you."

Jorge stepped forward. "How did a nice kid like you end up on Omega?"

"My Pilgrimage brought me here." Kenn grumbled. "What money I had got stolen within a few days, so I decided to sell salvaged parts." He then gestured to his 'store'. "You can see how that turned out. Harrot's forcing me to sell high, and I can't even afford a ticket off this station."

"What's a Pilgrimage?" Jun asked, feeling curious about the cultures of the various races in this galaxy.

Kenn looked at the Spartan and explained "You know how my people have lived in the Migrant Fleet ever since the geth drove us off of our home planet and all our colonies three centuries ago? Well, living in the Fleet means that we don't have much access to resources, and as a result we have to conserve as much of everything we can, and _everyone_ has got to pull their weight. Therefore no one wants a crew member who'll be a burden. So to prove ourselves, once a quarian reaches adolescence, he or she leaves their birth ship and goes off into the galaxy to find something worthwhile to bring back to the Fleet. When we find whatever it is we're looking for, we go back to the Fleet and present it as a gift to the captain of the ship we want to join. And it can't just be anything if you want to make a good first impression with the crew; it's got to be something that will make life on that ship – or life for quarians in general – easier in some way." Kenn slumped "I came to Omega hoping that there'd be _something_ on this station, but now all I can think about is how in Keelah's name I'm supposed to get off this rock."

"How much do you need to get off Omega?" Shepard asked, thinking that he could help this kid.

Kenn admitted "I still need a thousand credits to pay my way... but I couldn't let you do that. This is _my_ mistake, on _my_ Pilgrimage. It's my problem."

Undeterred, the Commander put a chit worth a thousand credits right into the quarian's palm. "Here you go: a thousand credits. Get out of here."

The quarian stared at the credit chit in disbelief. "I... _thank you_. With this, I can finally continue on my Pilgrimage. I'm going to buy my ticket right now, thank you again!" And he left to book his shuttle.

As soon as he walked away, Shepard went up to the kiosk, and bought most of the salvaged tech – with was actually in pretty good condition, and would more than likely come in handy on his mission – transferring the spent credits to Kenn's account.

Garrus pointed out "All this tech is worth more than a thousand credits Shepard, even with your discount. As generous as it is, couldn't you have just bought all this instead, and saved yourself a thousand credits?"

"He was a good kid in a bad neighbourhood Garrus. This way he'll actually have some money left over to make his Pilgrimage a little easier instead of having to beg or steal to stay alive. Besides, all this money is coming from our Cerberus funds."

"Ah, I see: you're not giving away _your_ money, you're giving away the money of a xenophobic terrorist organization. Nice call Shepard."

* * *

><p>As Shepard's team came closer to the quarantine zone, they saw a human woman arguing with a turian guard. As they got closer, they could hear the debate the two were having. "Complaining is pointless human, there's a plague – nobody gets in or out."<p>

The woman spat "You can't keep me out! I live in there!"

"I'm doing you a favour lady. If you go in, the guards will cut you down."

"You can't do this," the woman insisted "everything I own is in that apartment!"

As Shepard's team of commandos came up, the guard shouted "I told you to get lost lady! The plague has the whole zone quarantined, nobody gets in!"

"I'm human you ass, humans can't _get_ the plague. Now let me get my stuff out before looters get it." The civilian complained.

The guard growled "This thing affects every other race out there, we're not taking chances! Nobody gets in until the plague has run its course."

Jorge stepped forward. "So you're saying that the slums are completely sealed off?"

The guard sighed "Finally a human that can _hear_... uh, you are human right? Anyway, yes that's exactly what I'm saying."

The woman spoke up again. "You can't keep me out, I'm gonna lose all my stuff!"

The guard insisted "I'm doing you a favour human. Anyone in the quarantine zone will be dead from the plague or the gangs in a few weeks."

"Last time I checked, Omega didn't have any kind of law enforcement." muttered Jun.

"Fresh off the transport huh?" The guard noted. "Aria T'Loak calls the shots around here. Omega's where she conducts most of her business... and a plague is bad for business."

Shepard announced "There's a salarian named Mordin Solus in the slums, we've got to get in there to find him."

"The doctor? Crazy bastard opened a clinic in the district a few months ago. The Blue Suns weren't too happy when he moved in." The guard sighed "I hear Mordin's trying to deal with the plague. I wish him luck, but the area is still locked down. Our orders are to wait until the plague, the Blue Suns, or the vorcha kill everyone, then go in and clean up."

"What do you know about this plague?" asked Jun, while making sure his helmet was secure and his suit's air filter was online.

The guard shrugged "Starts out as a cough. Then you start coughing blood, and... well, then I shoot you. It affects multiple species – turian, salarian, krogan – you name it. Only humans are immune, and vorcha if you count them. An airborne disease that takes down multiple species... we can't let that spread. Hence the quarantine."

Garrus wondered "How is this disease crossing species barriers? Turians and salarians can't even eat the same food."

"Right, most people think it has to be synthetic. Somebody engineered it, and it either got loose, or they're testing it here. And seeing how humans are immune to the plague and doing a fair bit of looting, a lot of people think humans made it."

Shepard told the guard "Listen, you're stuck here until this quarantine is over. That could take _weeks_. What you really need is to get this problem solved right now. That's what we do – solve problems. Let us in, and we'll get this district straightened out."

The guard smirked "You think you can fix this? Why not? The quarantine is more to keep infected people in anyway. I'll radio ahead, tell them you're coming."

The woman whose home was in the plague zone gaped "Wait, you're stopping me but not them? You son of a bitch!"

The guard retorted "You don't have a rocket launcher lady. Get lost."

As Shepard checked on his team, Garrus groaned "A quarantine zone for a plague that kills turians. Why can't we ever go anywhere nice?"

Jun assured his friend "You don't have to go in there if you don't want to Garrus. Besides, it's safer to stick with a squad that's immune to the plague anyway."

Garrus smiled "I appreciate your concern Jun, but it's Shepard's call. If he needs me, I'm not going to let a cough keep me back."

The Spectre chuckled "I know you'd take on every mercenary on this station all over again if you had to Garrus, but even you can't fight a plague. Me and the Spartans can handle this on our own. Why don't you go have a few drinks at Afterlife or see if Kasumi's got any turian-friendly drinks in that bar she set up in her quarters? You've earned a break."

Garrus actually seemed to consider the idea. "I _did_ spend the past several months pissing off the three most notorious merc bands in the galaxy. And since they apparently think I'm dead, why not have a little fun?"

As left for some well-earned relaxation, Jun couldn't resist taunting "If you manage to work that stick out of your ass, you might actually find yourself a girl – until you use it to beat her to death."

"Have fun getting shot at." The turian retorted, trying to hide his grin.

* * *

><p><strong>I understand if some of you are a little upset that Shepard didn't recruit Mordin, and instead just ran around Omega doing errands. But in the last chapter, I only said that he'd go into the quarantine zone, not that he'd actually find Mordin. Read the fine print! MWA HA HA HA HA HA HA!<strong>

**Anyway, all bullshit aside, I really hope you're enjoying this story. If you do like it, please leave a review.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Um… sorry I haven't updated this story in such a long time?**

**Hayden-Strife:**** Glad you thought my story was worth reviewing, considering how little you do it, apparently.**

**Colonel-Mustard1990:**** Yeah, I can definitely see more than a little xenophobia from Emile when he arrives in the Mass Effect universe.**

**UDMonk:**** I understand your initial hesitance. I've read fanfics where, for example, the author just has the entire **_**Normandy**_** crew show up in a universe, and they cannot make it work. With those stories, I either stop reading, or the author realizes that they're in over their head, and they stop writing. Sometimes both. In any event, thank you for your support.**

**Knightowl 4183:**** Thank you. I was not aware of that.**

**I'm just going to shut up (so to speak… or is "write" more appropriate?) and let you read the story.**

**Chapter 9: I Don't Know If I Can Find A Cure For This Plague, But I'm Gonna Try**

Commander Shepard and the two Spartans walked down the corridor leading to the plague-infected slums, when suddenly a turian with armed a rifle spotted them and pointed his gun at the trio. But before he could open fire on them, another turian next to him shouted "Don't shoot!" The first turian looked at his comrade in confusion, who explained "They're cleared to come in."

Shepard, Jorge, and Jun simply walked past them and when they came up the door leading to the actual quarantine zone, another turian under Aria's employment warned them "Watch yourselves in there. The Blue Suns and the vorcha are shooting anything that moves."

Shepard nodded in acknowledgement. "Thanks for the warning, but that's a scenario I'm rather used to."

As soon as the doors shut behind them, the team brought out their weapons; Shepard with his Mattock; Jorge with his Sledgehammer; Jun with his Widow.

Jorge glanced at his fellow Spartan. "Jun, you do realize what that weapon's capable of, right?"

Noble Three sighed "If this is about what the Widow can do to a normal human's bones, I told you that I already gave it a few test-fires, and that my bones came out perfectly fine. I'd expect you of all people to know that, Jorge, seeing that you're a Spartan yourself."

"That's not what I was referring to."

Not expecting that, Jun tried to think of another reason that Jorge would be surprised by his choice of firearms. Unable to come up with one, he asked "Well, then what were you talking about?"

Noble Five answered "I did a little research on that gun, and… you do realize that that sniper rifle was designed to be used against armoured vehicles, right?"

Jun shrugged "Yeah I knew that."

"And you're going to be using it against infantry?"

"I imagine so."

"But… isn't using an anti-tank rifle on unarmoured personnel just a _little_ excessive?" Jorge lightly protested.

Noble Three retorted "Hey, I'll remind you that I recently had at least half the mercenaries on this entire station all trying to kill me. So forgive me if I feel like preparing for the worst – like, say, fighting a gunship on foot."

Noble Five stared at his teammate for several seconds, then eventually said "…Okay… um… would it be normal to feel just a little bit sorry for whoever we're about to fight?"

"Ahem."

The two Spartans then looked in front of them to see Commander Shepard standing and looking at them impatiently. "If you two are done, we've got a salarian doctor to find."

"Sorry Commander." the two Spartans said together.

Shepard nodded, satisfied, and the group continued on with their search for Mordin Solus.

The three soldiers then entered a large room where they saw two turians wearing Blue Suns armour burning several bodies. One of the turians noticed them and immediately screamed "Humans! They've come to spread the plague! Kill-" But before he could finish his statement, his head was replaced by an explosion of blood and brains as a round from Jun's M-98 Widow passed through it. And his comrade barely had enough time to draw his weapon before a biotic warp claimed his life.

Jorge muttered "I get the feeling that's the sort of welcome we can expect from the majority of the residents here."

Shepard then noticed a sealed apartment door, and used his omni-tool to open it in case there was anyone trapped inside. They were greeted by the sight of two dead turians that had fallen victim to the plague the slow and painful way. Inside the apartment, Shepard found a voice recorder that one of the residents had used as a journal, and from it he learned how when one of them had gotten what they'd thought was a harmless cough, the Blue Suns had sealed them both inside their apartment. At first the two friends had tried to wait it out by playing cards with one another, but the Suns never even considered opening the door. Eventually the one who had been using the journal realized that his friend really did have the plague, and had resorted to attempting to claw his way out with his bare hands. But he was trapped inside his own home, and eventually he too was infected.

Exiting the apartment, Shepard saw a batarian civilian who was obviously infected with the plague, but still alive, lying against a wall. The batarian had barely been able to hide from the crazed Blue Suns, and as he saw Shepard's face, his expression immediately became one of disgust.

"Human." The batarian spat. "Should've guessed." He coughed a couple times and groaned "Bad enough you infect us with this plague. Now you lack the decency to even wait until I die before you come to steal my possessions."

As the batarian continued to cough, Shepard crouched down and asked "Is there anything I can do for you?"

"Get away from me, human!" The plague victim snarled while waving a pistol in the commander's face. "Your kind has done too much already." He glared at the commander and spat "Your plague did this to me. Your feigned pity is the final insult."

"Humans didn't create this plague." the Spectre argued.

"Lies drip from your mouth like the blood from my sores. The proof is there for all to see." The batarian muttered as he pointed at a body the Blue Suns had set on fire in a vain attempt to control the spread of the plague. "Your species is the only one that does not succumb to the virus… Yours, and the wretched vorcha."

The commander said "We need to find Mordin Solus."

The batarian growled "Humans looking for the human sympathizer… I hope the vorcha burn Mordin and his clinic to the ground. I hope you… I hope…" He suddenly began coughing a lot more, and he groaned "Damn it! Damn you! Can't…"

Suddenly Shepard crouched down with his omni-tool activated. "Hey, stay with me!" He gave the batarian victim some medi-gel and sighed "This won't cure the plague. But it might help a bit."

The batarian slowly got to his feet with a look of pure astonishment on his face. "You… you helped me. Why?"

"It's what I do." The commander said. "I don't know if I can find a cure for this plague, but I'm gonna try."

"Your words sound… sincere." The batarian murmured while giving a much lighter cough. "Maybe it's the fever, but as you said… what have I to lose?" He looked at Shepard and asked "What do you wish to know?"

"What makes you think that humans are the ones who created this plague?" asked Jun.

"The plague is too potent to be a naturally occurring virus." The batarian argued. "Airborne transmission across numerous species? Near-perfect mortality rate? It had to be created in a lab. And since humans are the only species not affected… there is only one logical conclusion."

Jorge frowned "Didn't you say that the vorcha were immune to the plague as well? Maybe they infected the people here with the virus so that they could take control of this district."

The batarian explained "Vorcha are immune to disease. A human-created plague wouldn't affect them. But if the vorcha created the plague... why wouldn't it affect humans?" He then pointed out "Besides, the vorcha aren't smart enough to make a virus like this. They're scavengers. Sorry, human. You may not want to believe it, but all the evidence points to your species."

"Can you tell us where we can find Mordin Solus?" Shepard asked the batarian.

"He has a clinic on the far side of the district. He's taking in refugees – offering to help those infected with the plague. I was afraid to go to him before," The plague victim admitted. "He's dangerous. But perhaps he can help."

Shepard was more than a little confused – this batarian had been infected with the plague, and he'd been scared to go to someone offering help? "What makes Mordin worse than dying from the plague?"

"The Blue Suns tried to press him for protection money." The batarian explained. "He killed them. Stunned them with some kind of toxin, then gunned them down. He's not just a doctor. Doctors don't execute people... and display the bodies as a warning."

Shepard made a mental note to knock politely when he entered Mordin's clinic.

"When I find Mordin, I'll tell him about you. If he has a cure, I'll make sure someone gets it to you."

The batarian coughed. "Thank you. My time is running short... but at least you have given me a flicker of hope to brighten the darkness of my final hours." He coughed twice more, and mumbled "I don't want to die. Whatever Mordin is... I will risk it, if he can reach me."

"We should get moving." Jun said while inserting a fresh thermal clip into Linda.

"Goodbye, humans."

* * *

><p>Shepard slowly rounded a corner, then immediately went back when he saw several Blue Suns standing guard. He glanced over at the two Spartans, who each gave a single nod in understanding. "On the count of three, Jun and I will each take out one, and as soon as we do I want Jorge laying down cover fire so we can flank them." Shepard said while taking out his own sniper rifle.<p>

The two snipers readied themselves, and Jun calmly whispered "On three. One... two... three."

They each rounded the corner and pointed their rifles at the Blue Suns, and in less than a second they'd found a target. Jun targeted a turian with tech armour – which marked him as an officer – and Shepard went for a batarian that was barking orders. Each shot found their mark, and the instant they did, Jorge brought himself into their full view, and opened fire.

As the mercenaries dived for cover, they never saw the commander and Noble Three sprinting across the alley. Shepard cloaked himself, then brought his Mattock around the corner to see the Suns all crouching... right next to an explosive canister.

Smiling to himself, Shepard deactivated his cloak, and before the mercs could react he unleashed an overload from his omni-tool on the canister – increasing its explosive power even more – and effectively incinerating each one of the hostiles.

* * *

><p>Shortly after the quick skirmish, the team came up to yet another locked apartment door. Shepard handily got past the encryption, and walked inside. He immediately grew hopeful when the smell of decaying bodies didn't hit his nose, and it wasn't before long that he found the apartment's residents: two humans; one male, and one female.<p>

The woman breathed an enormous sigh of relief when she saw Shepard. "Oh, thank god! You're human!"

"When we saw that door open we thought those turians had found us." The man said.

Shepard talked to the couple, and for the most part they only confirmed what Aria's guard and the sick batarian had already told him. But they did reveal that in addition to killing the Blue Suns who had tried to force him to pay "protection" money, Mordin also had military-grade equipment in his clinic, including state-of-the-art security mechs. Additionally, when the Blue Suns had found out that Mordin was sheltering plague victims – humans included – they'd tried to burn down his clinic. Mordin killed them without even using his mechs.

Before leaving, Shepard was able to convince the two refugees to go to Mordin's clinic for sanctuary, and promised that he would clear a path through the Suns and the vorcha for them.

* * *

><p>Shepard's team came to the top of a balcony overlooking a courtyard – or what passed as one on Omega – to see a couple of Blue Suns stubbornly facing off against a squadron of vorcha.<p>

No words were necessary for Jun as Noble Team's sharpshooter began using Linda to pick off the vorcha. Noble Five simply jumped off the edge of the balcony, and as he slammed into the ground below he swung his Sledgehammer into the visor of one Blue Sun, and opened a quick burst of fire on the other.

Once a solid foothold was gained, the dumb vorcha didn't last five minutes against the team of commandos.

With the fighting done for now, Shepard went up to yet another sealed apartment. But in this one, he found something that disgusted him. There was a dead turian civilian on the floor, and two humans, one of which was ruffling through his pockets. One of them spotted Shepard's team, and shouted "Hey, hey, hey! Back off, we got here first!" Shepard ignored his words and went up to them. "Hey, what did I say? We found this stuff, it's ours!"

His friend grumbled "Ah, forget it – nothing but junk in here. This place is worse than the last one."

"What are you doing in this apartment?" Shepard demanded. "Did you kill that turian?"

"What, the guy on the floor?" The first human grunted, "Nah, the plague took care of him. We're just here to take a full accounting of all his worldly possessions."

The Spectre's eyes narrowed. "Stealing from the dead. That's pretty low."

"What's the big deal? It's not like they're gonna miss anything." The looter argued. "We're just showing a little entrepreneurial spirit. The plague doesn't affect humans, so we might as well cash in."

"Besides, if we don't take this stuff the vorcha or the Blue Suns will. Better us than them, right?"

"No more looting." The commander ordered.

"Or what," The human smirked. "You gonna shoot us?"

"This plague won't last forever," Shepard warned them. "When the Blue Suns come back, they won't like you looting in their territory."

"Yeah, well... maybe they won't find out." The looter said, though he didn't seem entirely sure of himself. Shepard was getting to him. "It's not like there's any witnesses alive to tell them."

"Are some dead turian's trinkets and a handful of credits worth that risk?"

"We just wanted to make a bit of quick cash. But when you put it like that... it doesn't sound like such a good idea." He then sighed "Hardly found anything valuable anyway. Yeah you're probably right – it's not worth it."

Jorge asked them "Do either one of you know a salarian by the name Mordin Solus?"

The first looter answered "Yeah I know him. Got a clinic right around the corner. Take plenty of ammo if you go that way," He warned them. "It's crawling with Blue Suns and vorcha."

"Tell us everything you know about Mordin." Jun ordered.

"That guy is crazy." The second looter grumbled. "He'll patch up a gunshot wound for free, then kick your ass and throw you out when you try to grab a few painkillers."

It sounded a lot like the man was speaking from personal experience, and it was confirmed when his friend said "Be honest, man. You kind of had that coming."

"No way he's just a doctor," The second looter continued. "No doctor puts down a Blue Suns squad like that."

"All I know is, if you go to his clinic, don't cause any trouble."

Shepard proceeded to ask them a few more questions, then he felt a nudge from Jorge. "Commander, we should probably get moving."

"Agreed."

The looter rolled his shoulders and said "Yeah, sure, we'll just stay here for a while – get some rest."

When Shepard turned a slightly suspicious eye on them, they quickly said "Don't worry, you made your point. We ain't gonna steal nothing."

* * *

><p>The two Spartans and the Spectre made sure to put away their weapons as they entered Mordin's clinic. One of the clinic's receptionists was able to point them to the doctor, and when they opened the door to the specified room, they were met with the sight of a salarian scientist with multiple scars and one of his horn-like appendages missing talking to another receptionist.<p>

"Professor, we're running low on cipoxin."

"Use malinarin. Plenty on hand. Almost as good. Causes cramping in batarians – supplement with butemerol"

"Malinarin and butemerol, got it."

The salarian continued to talk – seemingly to himself. "Cenozine is the catalyst. Bonds to genetic markers. Hard to find. Expensive to mass produce." He breathed deeply through his nostrils. "Why not heplacore?" He instantly shook his head. "Too unstable. Inconsistent results. Demozane better option. No, no, no, demozane toxic to humans. Not an option, not an option."

Finally seeing an opportunity to speak to the salarian, Shepard came forward. "Professor Mordin Solus?"

Seeing the group, Mordin approached Shepard and ran a quick scan with his omni-tool. "Hmm. Don't recognize you from area. Too well-armed to be refugees. No mercenary uniform. Quarantine still in effect." As he spoke, he went up to a terminal and started typing. "Here for something else. Vorcha? Crew to clean them out? Unlikely. Vorcha a symptom, not a cause." He finished doing whatever he'd been working on at the terminal, and walked back to face the group. "The plague? Investigating possible use as bio-weapon? No, no. Too many guns, not enough data equipment. Soldiers, not scientists. Yes, yes."

Nobles Three and Five looked at each other to silently confirm that this was actually happening, then returned their gaze to the doctor as he tried to figure out why they'd come.

"Hired guns, maybe? Looking for someone? Yes! But who? Someone important. Valuable. Someone with secrets... Someone like me."

"Relax, Mordin," Shepard told the scientist. "I'm Commander Shepard, and I came here to find you. I'm on a critical mission, and I need your help."

"Mission? What mission? No. Too busy. Clinic understaffed. Plague spreading too fast. Who sent you?"

Jun answered that question. "Ever heard of an organization called Cerberus?"

At the mention of Cerberus, Mordin instantly became suspicious. "Crossed paths on occasion. Thought they worked only with humans. Why request salarian aid?"

Jorge said "Because we're going after the Collectors, and if we want to take them down, we need your help."

The salarian's brow furrowed at the mention of the mysterious alien race. "Collectors? Interesting. Plague hitting these slums is engineered. Collectors one of few groups with technology to design it. Our goals may be similar. But must stop plague first. Already have a cure. Need to distribute is at environmental control centre. Vorcha guarding it." He finally took a breath. "Need to kill them."

"We can get in, and deal with the vorcha." The commander offered.

Mordin nodded, but stopped when he heard a hissing noise, and saw that the vents were being shut off.

"That can't be good" Jorge muttered.

"Vorcha have shut down environmental systems. Trying to kill everyone. Need to get power back on before district suffocates." Mordin took a vial and a pistol, and pressed them both into Shepard's hands. "Here, take plague cure. Also – bonus in good faith – weapon from dead Blue Suns mercs. May come in handy against vorcha. One more thing: Daniel – one of my assistants – went into vorcha territory. Looking for victims. Hasn't come back."

"If I see him, I'll do what I can to help." Shepard promised.

"Thank you. Told him not to go. But he's smart. Bright future. I hope."

Shepard decided that now was a good time to keep an earlier promise he'd made. "I found a batarian plague victim near the entrance to the neighborhood. Can you send someone to help him?"

The doctor rested a hand on his chin and murmured "Hmm. Risky. Blue Suns, vorcha still battling. District not secure. See what I can do."

An unusual conversation with the doctor revealed that before he ran this clinic, he'd worked for the Salarian Special Tasks Group, which was why he had access to military-grade equipment and security, and why he'd been able to take down a squad of mercs by himself.

Mordin also explained that he'd suspected the Collectors were the ones behind the plague outbreak before Shepard and his team had showed up. He'd theorized that the Collectors had unleashed this plague on the district to test the different species' levels of genetic mutations and variability, and that the humans had been spared because of their already diverse genetic background, so therefore it made sense to leave them intact as a control group. As for the vorcha, Mordin suspected that the scavenger species had been employed by the Collectors to distribute the plague for them, and collect the data they desired since they were immune to diseases in general.

Finally Shepard decided it was time to get moving as he ordered for his team to head to the environmental plant. They had a doctor to recruit, a district to save, and vorcha to kill.

* * *

><p><strong>Alright, that's it for this chapter!<strong>

**Oh, and I'm well-aware that I screwed up the first chapter in regards to how the nuke was actually supposed to be a re-purposed slipspace drive, or something like that, which is why I am officially sending out a request for a beta reader. Candidates may leave a review, or send me a PM. And if you can give me the usernames of other authors whose work you edit, that would help a great deal in improving your odds of being the one I choose. May the best editor win!**

**Oh, and for anyone else out there who's concerned about the purge of this website, go to www[dott]change[dott]org/petitions/fanfiction-net-stop-the-destruction-of-fanfiction-net and sign this online petition. Join the fight against internet censorship, and make sure that this website will continue to be a place where we are free to Unleash Our Imaginations!  
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